Upon My End, I Begin
by Arisprite
Summary: A boy woke up in a garden, with no name and no memories. Soon after that, as the spirit servant of the god Yuuko, Watanuki finds himself caught up in various tasks and adventures, finding out what it takes be the regalia of the God of Fate and Balance. In an AU created with the concepts from Noragami. Mostly written by names are hard guys here on ff.
1. April First

Hello! Welcome to the first chapter of the first installment of our sprawling Noragami AU, or as we've called it Holitsugami (get it, Holic, Tsubasa, Noragami... eh? eh?) It has been a year long project, following semi-canon events, telling the tale of the main characters of the CLAMP universe as gods, spirits, and humans, protecting the human world from all things otherworldly.

We have been plotting this since last January, and we have much written in both sides of the story. This is the xxxHolic side, which was conceptualized and mostly written by names are hard guys here on ff (username_goes_here on Ao3) I (Arisprite) will be lightly editing up to the point it is written, and then finishing it, with consultation from names are hard guys. It is a sister story to kate_7h's Tsubasa story Our Whispered Beginning. The stories will be posted here, and also on Ao3 in a series called Humanity of Souls | Morality of Gods. We'll also be reblogging on our individual tumblrs.

We encourage you to read both sides of the story, as, like xxxHolic and Tsubasa themselves, the two stories will be sisters, with intertwining parts, and plots.

This is the first story of three. Probably.

Please let us know if there are any warnings we need to use. Characters are spirits, and so, are dead, but we're not tagging character death... unless they actually disappear from the story. But, things may get dark, and I'd hate to upset anyone. However, be aware this series is rated T for reasons.

* * *

The first thought that occurred to him - well, he assumed it was his first thought, he couldn't remember any other thoughts before it - was something along the lines of, "huh." It was an odd sensation he felt - again, he assumed it was odd, it didn't feel quite right but he didn't know why. Why did he have this concept of normality if he didn't have any memories, and why the hell didn't he have any memories?

Less concerning, but more easily answered, was the question of where he was. Looking around, he saw he was in a garden or a park of some sort. It was night and it was raining and he was wet and he was cold and everything was blurry - was _that_ normal?

Despite the blurriness, he could see a few things. Across from him was a round path, and across from that, a bench, maybe. Behind him was a rather large hydrangea bush - not in bloom but impressive nonetheless.

"Hello there!"

A woman's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Um, hi?" he responded, still very confused and very annoyed and very much wondering where the voice was coming from.

Further down the path, he saw a shape coming closer. It came more and more into focus as it approached, and he could see that it was a woman. She was tall and impressive and wore what the boy could tell was the most ornate outfit he'd ever seen (well, anything would have been the most ornate outfit he'd ever seen, now wouldn't it?), despite the blurriness. Her long, dark hair flowed all around her, nearly melding with the deep hue of the dress she wore. Any more details than that were impossible to determine, considering the dark and the bad vision. Maybe he needed glasses or something.

The woman laughed, continuing forward.

"Oh dear, you look as lost as a child! Though you practically are - you're not terribly old."

The boy frowned. "Hell if I know! Who are you? What's going on? Is this some sort of sick joke?" He couldn't help the anger that was coming out at this woman. For all he knew - which was nothing - she could be completely innocent. Then again… She _was_ the only one there.

"This is no joke. I hate to break it to you, but you're dead," she said as nonchalantly as if she was telling him that his shoes were untied. Actually, he didn't seem to be wearing shoes. Huh.

"Dead?" he asked, more than mildly concerned, and considering arguing the point, but deciding against it because it didn't seem _wrong_ and he was curious where exactly this was heading. "Then this is the afterlife."

"No," the woman said.

He considered this. "Then you're insinuating that I'm a ghost," he half-asked, half-stated.

She hummed. "No, not quite."

Yeah, because _that_ made sense.

"This is ridiculous," he decided, despite feeling that she was telling the truth. "Dead people don't just wander around gardens in the middle of the night barefoot - do they?" As if he knew - he didn't even know his own name. Who _was_ he?

"Not generally, no. In fact, uncorrupted spirits are quite rare these days. To happen upon you like this…" She paused as she finally reached him, and when she spoke again, her tone was absolute. "It was hitsuzen."

The boy blinked and looked up at the woman.

"Hitsuzen?" He racked his brain to see if he recognized the odd word. "As in… inevitability? Fate?" He paused, backtracking a moment. "Dead."

The woman sighed and was that a frown? He really couldn't tell through the blurry vision - glasses were certainly a priority.

"Listen, child-"

"I am _not_ a child! I'm…" He didn't know. "Well, I'm not a _child_!"

"You must accept this," the woman continued, paying him no mind. Her tone was serious, so the boy listened. "You are dead. You're a spirit now. I am in need of a regalia - a spirit assistant of sorts. Our meeting was inevitable, yes. Fated. Hitsuzen, as I said." She paused, probably for theatrical effect. "Will you become my regalia?"

The boy considered this. Nothing else really made sense right now - who's to say he wasn't dead? Instinct told him he'd seen weirder, and there were few arguments to be had against it. Especially not right now in the cold, wet night.

"Why do you need a spirit assistant?" he decided to ask. He didn't want to agree to something he would eventually regret.

"I'm a god - you can never have too many regalia!" she said excitedly, though he felt like there was something more than just flippancy in her tone. "Besides, I could use the help. I have a rather large temple, and too few workers now. You'd have a place to live, a name, people who can see you - everything a regalia could possibly want!"

"Waitwaitwaitwaitwait - a god? You're a _god_? And what do you mean people who can _see_ me?"

The woman huffed. "Yes. I am Yuuko, god of equivalency and inevitability." Well didn't that just explain her attitude, wait a second did she say-

"Yuuko…gami? _The_ Yuuko-gami?" There was knowledge somewhere within Watanuki - though he didn't know where it was from - that told him that he knew who Yuuko was. She was _the_ god. The one you took your dire requests to. The one people told _stories_ about… not that he could remember the stories, now that he thought about it.

He wanted to call this woman a liar. Turn away, figure it all out alone… Although… He couldn't quite explain to himself why, but he _knew_ that this woman was Yuuko, and that she was telling the truth, and that this _was_ the best course of action. She could give him a home, a purpose, a _self_.

A thousand thoughts passed through him in a second, not all of them comprehensible. How terribly wrong could this all go? How horrible would it be to refuse? What the hell does a dead person do, anyways? Do dead people need glasses?

"Do you agree to be my regalia, or not, child?" Yuuko - _Yuuko_ \- asked. Or rather, demanded, based on that tone of voice.

"Fine, fine, I'll do it," he conceded. "But when you say assistant, you better _mean_ assistant, because I'll tell you right now that if regalia is a fancy god-term for _slave_ , I am _gone_!"

Yuuko waved her hand casually. "Yes, yes." It wasn't really much assurance, if he were to be honest.

Suddenly, her entire demeanor changed. Her posture straightened, her head rose, and she lifted out a hand, extending two fingers.

"You, who have nowhere to go, I grant you a place to belong. My name is Yuuko. Bearing a posthumous name, you shall remain here. With this name I make thee my servant. With this name and its alternate, I use my life to make thee a regalia. Thou art Ki. As regalia, Noboru. Come, Noboru!"

A blinding flash of light, and suddenly he was… different. Not himself. His body had changed into something completely different. No longer was he human, but rather… an object? Or perhaps a consciousness attached to one?

He felt contracted, bent and folded together, with wooden spokes and iron edges all folded against one another. Something warm held him - a hand? The hand moved quickly then, and it felt like he was flicked apart, the spokes separated, but held together. He could feel the rain again, but on paper this time, instead of skin.

It was… not pleasant.

 _What the hell?_ he said? thought? He didn't really know. He could barely process anything at the moment.

The hand - Yuuko's hand - spun him once, and suddenly he was back on his feet. In the mud. And the inside his right wrist burned where a red kanji was now imprinted. _Ki_.

He looked back up at Yuuko. "What did you just do to me? You said, you said I'd be an assistant! What sort of assistance were you expecting?"

She shrugged, and possibly frowned - he really couldn't see well. "Cooling me off in the summer months, apparently. Your regalia form is a fan."

The boy was at a loss for words. Which, for some reason, seemed surprising to him.

"You really don't remember much, do you?"

"Much about what?"

"Just the world, Watanuki."

He considered being offended, but… she wasn't wrong, it seemed.

"I thought you said my name was Ki or Noboru or something like that." This night - his _first_ night - was getting more and more confusing for him. Hopefully it didn't get any more confusing than this.

"Ki is short for Watanuki, of course," she explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world

"Oh, of _course_ ," he repeated, hoping his tone sounded as sarcastic as it felt. This whole thing felt like walking into some sort of trap.

Yuuko held an object out to him and sighed. "Your tone isn't appreciated. You're in the presence of a god, you know."

"Hn," he grunted, with a hint of disdain, though when he took the object from her, he was less angry. "Hey, how did you know I would need glasses?"

"Hitsuzen."

He put the glasses on - who knew you could see this much detail even in the dark? - and took in the full, clear image of the god in front of him. She was beautiful, if severe and intimidating. Black hair framed her face and looped and curled around her head and down her back. Her eyes were a piercing and disconcerting red. His guess on the blue dress was correct, but he couldn't have guessed how intricate the patterns on it were. Large, purple butterflies were embroidered into the fabric throughout the dress, and the dye had a gradient, making it darker nearer to the ground.

He then looked down and saw his muddy feet. And robe-thing?

"Can we go to that temple now?" he asked. "I'm cold and muddy and standing here in the rain is not helping."

"Of course!" Yuuko yelled (more loudly than perhaps warranted in the middle of the night) as she turned away down the path. "I'm starving. I could certainly go for some salted mackerel!" She turned to him then, her expression very serious. "You'll be cooking it of course."

He ran off after her, fuming again. "Me?! I don't even know if I _can_ cook! Maybe I don't even _like_ cooking, you ever think of that?"

"I'm sure you'll love it! Give it a shot!"

She certainly was an eccentric. But, he - Watanuki - had agreed to be her regalia or whatever, so here he was.

He just hoped he wouldn't regret it.

* * *

username_goes_here: Alright, so concerning the naming of regalia...

In Noragami, regalia are given a kanji. Their name is that kanji, but they have a suffix added to the end of it, usually just one syllable. A god will generally use the same suffix on all their regalia, almost like a family name, and that'll be their full name.

Then, in their regalia form, they have another name, but it's really just an alternate reading of their kanji, with 'ki' added as a suffix.

As an example for those who haven't seen or read Noragami, one of the main characters has the kanji 'Kazu' on him. The suffix his god uses is '-ma', so his name as a human is 'Kazuma.' The alternate Chinese reading is 'Chou,' so his name as a regalia is 'Chouki.'

It's hard to work with this when we have pre-named characters, especially with someone with a name like Watanuki. I can't really stay true to the Noragami version of naming regalia, sadly, and it works even less well for Watanuki. And as far as his alternate name goes, I just picked something unrelated because I can.

I wish I could make it work better, as it feels weird to do because there's no rhyme or reason behind it, but, like I said, the characters are pre-named, and the only way I can make it work is by renaming anyone who's a regalia, and I don't want to do that.


	2. Possession

Possession

Summary: Yuuko-sama receives a guest, and Watanuki helps with his first wish granting as her new regalia.

Notes: Written in full by username_goes_here, aka. Rémy, and edited by Arisprite

Thank you for reading chapter 2! Coming up, we will see more of Watanuki settling in and helping with the customers, getting to know the temple dwellers, and learning more of what it means to be a regalia.

Be sure to check out the Tsubasa side of this story, Humanity of Souls: Our Whispered Beginning to find out what Syaoran, Sakura, Fai and Youou (Kurogane) are up to!

* * *

Yuuko quickly became the bane of his existence. Apparently 'assistant' meant 'servant' and 'servant' meant never leaving the temple and cooking and cleaning and organizing and basically just catering to Yuuko's every whim.

Which wasn't very pleasant.

But, hey, this was what Watanuki - as was his name now - had signed up for so he had to deal with it.

Honestly, he didn't even know what it was Yuuko even _did_ at her temple. He hadn't really gotten a straight answer yet, despite the fact that it had been a few days. Wasn't that enough tenure to know who you were working for? Really though, any tenure at all should be enough to know who you were working for, in Watanuki's opinion.

Mokona - some sort of weird spirit-thing, he supposed, that looked like a deformed bunny plush toy with blue jewel stuck in its forehead - was of no assistance. Any time Watanuki brought up anything of importance with it, it just hopped off and drank sake with Yuuko.

Yuuko's two other regalia (her _only_ other regalia) - twin girls named Maru and Moro - weren't much more helpful. They'd say something vague in unison and then skip away.

And Yuuko herself? Gods she never answered _any_ questions about _any_ thing. Watanuki wondered if all the gods were like this, or if he had just been stuck with the worst one. Part of him hoped it was the former, but for the sake of humanity, he kind of hoped it was the latter.

The priest at the temple - some jerk named _Doumeki_ \- was rarely even around to ask questions, let alone answer them. When he _was_ around, he'd say a maximum of two words and leave. What a idiot, honestly.

The bright spot of his life (well, his death) was Kunogi Himawari. Sweet, precious Himawari. She was the cutest girl Watanuki had ever seen, and he wasn't just saying that because she was the only girl around his age (maybe?) that he'd met as far as he could remember. Her smile could light up the world, he was pretty sure. It lit up his world at least. She was the only one who would interact with him like a person. Unfortunately, she was also the only one in the usual group who didn't live there. Apparently she just sort of hung around the temple sometimes. She and Doumeki were childhood friends, but how someone as wonderful as Himawari could stand such a stoic, unfeeling jerk as a friend, Watanuki just didn't understand.

He was along this train of thought while dusting some old vases in a large and rather unorganized storage room (he'd have to clean that later, ugh) one day when he was finally told what exactly Yuuko _did_.

Well, more like _shown_ what exactly Yuuko did.

A voice rang through the temple. "Oh, Watanuki!"

With a sigh, he tossed aside his duster and began stomping his way towards the sound of Yuuko's yelling.

"Watanuki!" she repeated, more loudly.

"I am /coming/ don't rush me!" he yelled back.

His respect for her godly nature had dissipated very quickly when she forced him to cook a four course meal at four in the morning, only an hour or two after he had been found and brought to the temple. The meal was finished off with sake and a four hour nap. The woman was ridiculous, and Watanuki would make sure she knew it.

"Well, hurry it up! We have a guest." she snapped.

A guest? Sure, Yuuko would hear the wishes and desires of the desperate - Watanuki knew that - but he had figured it was more of a 'pray at the shrine' kind of thing. Not a genuine in-person plea to the god herself.

He walked into Yuuko's sitting room and found her draped over a chair at the table, which was unsurprising. More surprising, was the woman seated across from her. She was turned away from Watanuki, but he could feel that there was something off about her. Something unpleasant. Something that… smelled? He wasn't sure though… It did seem a little odd that something like that would happen, so Watanuki assumed he was imagining it.

"Ah, Watanuki, could you bring us some tea?" asked Yuuko, that mysterious frown on her face. The one she wore when she was trying to look mysterious and dignified. It worked.

"Of course, Yuuko-san." Watanuki did his best to be pleasant, for the sake of the guest.

He returned through the other side of the room, behind Yuuko, so that he could get a better look at the customer.

At first glance, she seemed perfectly normal, but something about her still put Watanuki off.

She was entirely focused on Yuuko and paid Watanuki no mind until he started pouring her tea.

"Oh! I didn't see you there!"

Didn't see him? How could she not notice him? He was literally right there in the room and, honestly, probably staring at her.

"That's alright. I'm just here to bring the tea, don't mind me," he said, a little confused.

He began to leave the room, but Yuuko lightly touched his arm before he left. "Wait in here."

And now Watanuki was even more confused, but he didn't protest. No need to make a scene, and he truly was curious about this woman.

Watanuki sat in the only empty seat - Yuuko's couch. It was too large and the ornateness made him feel uncomfortable and small. He made a mental note to avoid it in the future.

All his thoughts on furniture stopped, however, when the woman took her right hand out from under the table in order to pick up her drink.

If you could call it that. It looked like claws… Or more like a talon.

Watanuki was no longer questioning his senses. The odd tingle in the back of his mind. The faint smell of rot that was starting to induce nausea. The sight of a dark, grotesque talon in place of the entirety of woman's hand, though it faded at the wrist, giving way to a normal human arm.

There was no way he was imagining all of that at once.

Unless he was going crazy. Which was a very real possibility, considering the working conditions he was under. Was there some sort of regalia union he could join? There must have been. It wouldn't make sense not to-

"Now." Yuuko's voice broke his thoughts. "Tell me about your problem, Natsuki-san."

The woman - Natsuki - shifted uncomfortably. "Well, it may sound a little strange…"

A _little_ strange? She had a _talon_ for a hand. Now, Watanuki didn't have many memories, but he was pretty sure that _that_ wasn't normal.

Yuuko just smiled. "Try me."

"Well, it started about a week ago," she began. "I woke up one morning and my pinky felt a little weird. It didn't hurt, really, but it just didn't feel right, you know?"

Yuuko nodded.

"I ignored it, you see, because it was just my little finger and it's not that important, right? I just went about my day. The next morning, more of my hand felt weird. And the same thing the next morning. Now it's all the way up my wrist."

"Is that all?" asked Yuuko, looking for all the world like she already knew the whole story.

Natsuki looked away and shook her head. "No. Sometimes my hand will just… do things now."

"What sort of things?"

"Bad things. I'll be walking on the street and suddenly be holding someone's wallet. Or I'll be at a restaurant and suddenly I'm intentionally spilling my drink on the waiter. The other day, I even hit myself." She looked back up at Yuuko, eyes earnest. "I swear it's unintentional! It's not like I _want_ to do these things!" she insisted.

"Don't you?"

Well of course she didn't - she'd just said, didn't she?

The woman shook her head, and stroked the tea cup with her right hand. Or rather clawed hand. Why wasn't she mentioning this?

"Go ahead - throw the tea in my face," said Yuuko suddenly.

"What?"

"I know that's what you're thinking. And what your hand wants to do."

"Why would I want to do that?" the woman asked, startled.

Yuuko leaned forward on the table and fluttered her lashes _ugh why does she do that?_ "You tell me. Once you gain control, you won't have a problem anymore."

The hell was that supposed to mean?

"I- I don't know what you're talking about. Can't you just fix it?"

Leaning back, Yuuko hummed. "It would be better if you fixed it yourself… But yes. I can help."

Natsuki looked hopeful for a moment, but fell when she heard Yuuko's next words.

"For a price."

"You gods deal with five yen coins, yes? I- I have that-"

"No. I deal in equal trade. Balance. Equivalency. No gods truly deal like that without price to themselves, Natsuki." Watanuki had never heard that before. Did prayers go unanswered because humans refused to meet the balance? What sort of price would a god pay to equate the missing payment? What sort of balance did the gods - or perhaps the universe? - require?

The woman spoke then, interrupting Watanuki's musings. "Oh… I see…"

"I will, however, give you a trial period."

"A trial period…?" Natsuki looked hopeful, but skeptical.

"That's right." Yuuko then looked to Watanuki and gestured for him to come to her. "Watanuki, could you please bring me that green trunk from the storage room?"

The guest suddenly looked up and gave Watanuki a startled and confused look. Weird, sure, but not weirder than her hand or her… presence.

"Where did you put it?" asked Watanuki, having no idea what sort of green box she was asking for. Besides, there was no way he was going to find anything in there without _some_ sort of direction.

Yuuko hummed. "Not sure. I think it's near a painting of… something."

Watanuki grumbled, but made his way to the storeroom anyways, muttering the whole way. "That is _no_ help at all. How can I be expected to do _anything_ around here if she can't give me even a little bit of leeway, I swear we are _organizing_ that damn room this week - how am I supposed to find something as obscure as a green box or trunk or whatever in this mess, she is _awful_ and oh, there it is," he finished after spending one minute in the room and immediately finding it near the door. "My point still stands though. We are organizing the whole thing."

The trunk was heavier than appreciated, and it took a lot to drag it through the halls. He ran into Doumeki on the way. The taller boy turned around and looked down at Watanuki, who was pulling the trunk behind him with all his strength. His dark eyes were sharp, but unfeeling, Watanuki was pretty sure.

"Get outta my way I am _working_ ," Watanuki huffed, trying to catch his breath.

Doumeki picked up the far end of the trunk, but said nothing.

"Oh please, I don't need your help here! Why don't you go do whatever it is you do all day and leave me alone - don't you have some sort of priestly duties or something?"

"No. Keep walking."

Watanuki picked up his end of the trunk, and together they hefted the trunk into the sitting room.

Without another word, Doumeki went outside. Gods, what a jerk. It's not like Watanuki _wanted_ any help and then here he comes waltzing in rubbing everything in Watanuki's face and giving him that abnormally impassive look. Doumeki was the _true_ bane of his existence, for sure.

Watanuki dragged the trunk the next few feet to rest near Yuuko.

"Thank you, Watanuki," she said before opening it. Inside were a number of abnormally shaped items, all wrapped in cloth. Yuuko picked up a small, square box from the top and set it on the table. "You can take the rest of that back."

Oh, there was no way in hell he was dragging that trunk all the way back to the storage room now - not after all that. Watanuki couldn't believe how demanding Yuuko was sometimes. Why didn't she just tell him to get the stupid box in the first place instead of the whole damn trunk?

"Careful, Watanuki, you'll knock the table over onto our _guest_ if you continue throwing your arms around like that."

Oh, that's right there was a guest. And he probably looked like a crazy person.

"Ah, ha, sorry about that. I'm just going to-" he cut himself off when he got another look at the woman's hand - or where it should have been. The talon was larger, and started further up her arm than before. The smell was slightly worse too. He wasn't imagining all that, was he?

"Can I help you?" she guest asked, affronted and pulling away.

"No, no, I just… your… hand…"

Yuuko gave Watanuki a knowing look. Knowing of what, Watanuki had no idea, but she obviously knew _something_.

The woman looked from her hand to Watanuki, then back to her hand.

"Nothing, it's just… nothing," he said, trying to cover for himself, but obviously failing. He went back to the couch and stayed quiet.

Yuuko pushed the box at the guest, then leaned back in her chair.

Natsuki opened it and pulled out a very plain ring. "What am I supposed to do with this?" she asked.

"You wear it, of course," Yuuko told her, explaining what was obvious, but also _too_ obvious. There must have been something else.

The woman put the ring on what would have been her right pinky finger, and within a few minutes, her hand looked almost normal, if a little blackened. The smell was still there, but at least her hand looked like a _hand_. Not that it seemed anyone else cared to notice it in the first place.

"Oh wow, my hand already feels much better!" Natsuki insisted, turning it around to marvel at its lack of abnormality, Watanuki supposed.

"This is only a bandage, Natsuki-san," Yuuko said seriously. "You need to resolve your own problems before it's too late. Come back to me in two days. I either expect you to return the ring at that time, or make full payment."

"Which is…?"

"Equal to your wish." Yeah, _that_ wasn't ominous.

Both Yuuko and the woman stood up and left through the door. Watanuki followed them outside and watched the woman leave.

"Was there something wrong with her?" Watanuki turned to ask Yuuko, only to find that she had gone back inside and left him outside alone with _Doumeki_ who was sweeping leaves as if it was the most important thing in the world.

He looked up at Watanuki at the question, and Watanuki froze. He didn't say anything, but being at the receiving end of that blank stare was disconcerting and Watanuki did. Not. Like it.

"Whatever, fine, don't say anything, I wasn't even talking to you in the first place and it's not like I want _answers_ or anything just sweep your stupid leaves and have _fun_."

Doumeki looked back down at his leaves and Watanuki stormed back inside.

By the time he got back inside, Yuuko was already draped across her couch like some sort of lumpy blanket that sighed a lot.

"Yuuko-san," Watanuki began, but didn't get to finish.

"Watanuki, I thought I told you to take that trunk back the the storage room," she said, lazily pointing at the green trunk she had so maddeningly asked him to drag out minutes earlier.

"Firstly, it was a ridiculous request to have be bring out that whole trunk when you could have just told me to get that little box out of it - in fact I ran into Doumeki in the hall and he had to-"

"I saw that! Doumeki was able to help you- that was so kind of him!"

"It was NOT!" Watanuki insisted loudly. Hopefully loud enough that it would get through Yuuko's thick skull, but the probability was low at this point.

"Honestly Watanuki, I think you two get along wonderfully!"

"No. He barely talks to me and when he does, he doesn't _say_ anything and he just stands there and stares and he just gets on my nerves!"

"Like I said, I think you two get along wonderfully!"

"WERE YOU LISTENING TO ANYTHING I JUST SAID?"

Watanuki waved a hand in front of his face and moved on before she could respond - of course she wasn't listening.

"Listen, Yuuko-san, I have some questions," he said calmly.

She sat up a bit, which was as close as he was going to get to her paying attention.

"What was wrong with that woman's hand?"

Yuuko smiled. It was disconcerting. "Of course you would see it."

"It? You mean those claws?" Why did it seem like she was insinuating something weird…

"Watanuki, that's not something any ordinary person would have seen."

He considered this. "Is it because I'm a regalia, or…" Hell, he didn't even know what a regalia _was_ at this point. No one told him anything.

"No. Maru and Moro wouldn't have seen it either. Not this early on. They may have felt something was off - Doumeki as well, perhaps - but only you can _see_ what was affecting that woman."

Watanuki frowned. "You're not making any sense. What was affecting that woman? Why wouldn't anyone else see it?"

"What she has on her is a parasite." Finally some straight answers, but not the ones he really wanted. "A spiritual one. A very small, very weak ayakashi that grows stronger each day."

"Ayakashi…?" The word was almost familiar to him. Something he may have known some time, but had forgotten now.

"Spirits of ill intent. Some are the ghosts of the dead, like you, but twisted."

Watanuki gulped - was he really no different than some sort of disfigured phantom?

"But most are bred by and feed on malicious thoughts and actions. They're creatures of the Far Shore."

"The Far Shore?"

"The great beyond. The world of gods and spirits. Our world, Watanuki. Goodness, it's as if you've learned nothing! Humans are the Near Shore and we? We are the Far Shore. The unreachable, and undefinable."

"You're not unreachable though. You literally live in a temple in the middle of a major city."

Yuuko gave him a pointed glare. "That isn't what I meant."

This woman was infuriating.

"Alright, alright, we'll come back around to that then," he conceded, knowing full-well that he would have to force the topic later. "The woman though… She's possessed?"

"Yes."

"But you said she had to fix it herself. How can she fix something like that herself?"

"As I said, that creature is feeding off of her ill-intent."

"But she said that the hand is doing things on its own - how could she-"

"The hand is acting on her own thoughts and desires. If she can control those, the ayakashi will leave."

"How bad were that woman's thoughts that she could have drawn some sort of demon to her? I mean, I've had some rude thoughts about certain people," he pouted, thinking of a certain priest and a certain god, "but I'm not possessed or anything…"

Yuuko sat up then, and made severe eye-contact. "Would you ever act on those thoughts?"

"What?"

"Do you take those thoughts seriously? Could you ever see yourself following up on any of those mental threats?"

"No… I suppose not," he decided after a brief pause.

"Good, then you're not in danger of possession. They only affect those who truly consider these things. _Everyone_ has thoughts from time to time, Watanuki, but only _some_ might follow-through. Those people are a breeding ground for ayakashi."

"And how would that ring help?"

Yuuko waved a hand in the air impassively. "It will hold the ayakashi back long enough for that woman to regain control of her actions. If she can do that, the ring can be removed and she can go about her life again with only a small price to me. If she cannot…" Yuuko paused for effect. "Then she will pay the price for a very serious exorcism. It will not be cheap."

With the state of her arm, he would imagine not.

* * *

The next day, Watanuki couldn't get the story about ayakashi out of his head. He asked Himawari about it, hoping she might be able to elaborate.

"No, I think you got all of it," she said from her chair in the kitchen. She was generally around when Watanuki cooked, but he never made her help because he wouldn't want to make her work or anything - that would just be cruel. No, he was the one here to work, apparently. Which brought him to a few other points he wanted clarified.

"But Yuuko-san said something about some of them being… being spirits of the dead," he said, losing momentum on the egg whites he was beating.

"I suppose that's true…"

Watanuki sighed and turned towards her. "What does that make me then?" he asked.

Now, he didn't really want to be concerning Himawari with these sort of matters - no, no, she deserved to never deal with serious issues, especially not his own. Such a cute, nice, sweet girl shouldn't have to listen to Watanuki ramble about all this.

But…

She was the only one answering his questions.

"You're a regalia," she said simply. "Ayakashi are vindictive spirits, Watanuki-kun. You're not vindictive."

"So why aren't there more regalia? Are most people just vindictive, or are there a lot of other regalia not around here…" he trailed off, unsure where the thought was headed.

Himawari looked up and away, as if searching for an explanation. "Regalia are generally spirits that didn't want to go. Most people's souls, when they die, reincarnate." She spoke slowly, choosing words carefully, it seemed. "But the souls of regalia… I guess they didn't want to."

The answer just frustrated Watanuki more. What sort of unfinished business did he have that was so important that he wouldn't allow himself to move on? It better have been pretty damn important, because he couldn't think of anything worth this existence. He sent some hatred to his past self, regaining the energy needed to stiffen the egg whites.

"Do all regalia get their memories wiped? What's the point of lingering if you can't remember the reason you did it in the first place?"

Himawari ran her hands through her curly pigtails - ahhh, she was so cute - and took a breath. "All regalia have no memories of their lives, yes. But I don't know why, Watanuki-kun. I wish I did."

Watanuki sighed, again losing steam on his egg whites, and setting the bowl and the whisk aside for the moment. At least he had a bit more information. "So do the gods just run around collecting lost souls or something? What's that about?"

She let out a short laugh. "They name the souls and mark them, taking them in as their own."

He rubbed the kanji marked on the inside of his wrist.

She saw and frowned. "Regalia are a form of protection for the gods." Oh so he was just useful to Yuuko? "And in turn, the gods protect them." Or make them be their slaves, more like.

"This is stupid," he decided for the fiftieth time since he'd come to the temple. "What part of protection means _make all my food and clean my whole temple and do my laundry and organize everything and do it faster, Watanuki_ because maybe the definition changed last I heard." He picked up the bowl of egg whites again and began whisking again. Why didn't they have an electric beater in this place?

"Gods give them a home, and ways to protect themselves from dangers."

"What's to stop me from going away and renting an apartment on my own, hm?"

Himawari shifted in her chair. "People… they won't notice you. Ayakashi will flock to you. You'll be defenseless."

The information hit him like a blow to the chest. He faltered in his whisking, but picked up the pace again quickly, distracting himself. "People won't notice me…?" He thought about the woman, having to be reminded of his presence every time he entered the room

Himawari shook her head. "No. If you draw attention to yourself, then they will, but… they'll forget soon after." She paused and looked down. "I'm sorry."

So he was going to live forever as an invisible teenager. Great. Wait.

"B-b-but… you notice me, Himawari-chan. And you'll remember me, right?" He hoped so. To be forgotten by Himawari would be… would be… He couldn't…

She nearly jumped out of her chair. "Of course! I spend so much of my time here, I couldn't forget! And when you become close to a regalia or anything else Far Shore, then forgetting is just - it isn't an option!"

 _Ahhhhhh~ she thinks we're close! Himawari, the cutest, nicest girl in the world, thinks we're close!_

"Which is why Doumeki-kun and I would never forget you!"

 _Doumeki_.

The egg whites were stiff enough, so he dropped them into his batter and started folding them in with a wooden spoon, scowling all the while.

"I'd be happy if that guy forgot me and left. I don't like him at all - and he doesn't like me either! He barely talks to me and _puh-lease_ as if we could ever be friends he's like a tree with a face - there's nothing there!"

"Oh, but he's a very nice guy if you talk to him once in awhile," she insisted.

"I don't want to! He's the worst! He's such a _jerk_!" He punctuated his point by tossing the wooden spoon into the sink next to him. He was done with the batter anyways.

"Well, I think you two will be great friends."

He deflated inside. She was so wrong. So cute, so nice, but so bad at reading relationships. Well, no one's perfect. He could convince her otherwise. Later.

"Yeah, whatever." He began collecting the ramekins from the cupboard below him, the turned back to Himawari, arms full of little white dishes. "Do you want a soufflé?"

"Of course!"

* * *

Natsuki was back the next night, as Yuuko had requested of her two days previous. She looked concerned, and her whole right arm and part of her face was blackened and charred. She was still wearing the ring, Watanuki could see, and her hand was still a hand, but somehow it looked and felt _worse_. The smell was certainly worse. Gods, was he the only person smelling that?

Watanuki stayed out of the way, and true to Himawari's word, Natsuki didn't notice him, except when he sneezed before Yuuko came into the room. She forgot he was there soon after though.

It was becoming more and more troublesome to find any sort of positivity in this life. Death. Existence. Whatever.

"You've been wearing the ring?" Yuuko asked as she made a dramatic entrance wearing a tight, red dress that showed off her assets in a way you really couldn't ignore.

"Yes, Yuuko-sama, I have, but… Although it felt better that first day, it just got worse after that. My whole arm feels weird - and I think it's going up my neck too!" She was panicked, and looked desperate. If she felt as bad as she looked, well, Watanuki couldn't blame her.

Yuuko took her seat and lifted her brows. She looked absolutely condescending and it irked him.

"You didn't do what I told you."

"I did! I wore the ring!"

"But you didn't. Do. What I told you."

The woman hadn't changed at all. In fact, she must have only gotten worse.

"Can you fix me or not?"

Yuuko took a sip of her tea and let her guest stew for a moment. "The fixes _I_ offer are temporary at best. I can give you time to fix yourself.

"That's not good enough!" the woman screamed, standing up and knocking her tea off the table dramatically. Great, Watanuki would have to clean that up. "I told you to _fix_ me! This place is a joke! You're no god!"

Yuuko stood up, her height and presence much more impressive than Natsuki.

Before Yuuko could speak, however, the woman stormed out of the temple. Watanuki immediately ran out after her, concerned at what she might do.

As he ran through the gate - the gate he never left - he caught a glimpse of Himawari talking with Doumeki in the courtyard. They both looked at him, but only Himawari ran after him.

A few blocks away, the woman stopped in the middle of a street. She was illuminated only by a streetlamp as she turned back towards Watanuki. "You! Why are you following me?" She was pointing, but not quite at him. At Himawari.

Himawari stopped and put her hands up. "I wasn't chasing you- I-"

"Everyone just leave me _alone_!" As the woman panicked, she began to pull off the ring.

He reached out his hand to stop didn't know what would happen if she took the ring off, but he knew it wouldn't be good.

And he wasn't wrong.

The woman was twisting the ring around her finger, grimacing and tugging, until finally she got it off. There was an immediate reaction. The dark, rotten skin he'd seen on her arm earlier began to consume her whole body. There was a stench in the air, and some sort of undefinable pressure weighed on Watanuki. He stared, mouth agape, unable to look away as the woman fell to the ground, limp, and the skin was... _squirming_. It rose up, forming a dark shape above the woman, leaving her motionless in the middle of the street.

"Watanuki-kun, run!"

Himawari ran away as fast as she could, but something - probably fear - kept Watanuki from moving from his spot on the sidewalk. He watched as the blurry figure began to take more shape. It was dark, smoky, clawed, and had far more eyes than any being should possibly have.

It turned to Watanuki, and grinned with a mouth that took up what would be its entire face, were it human.

"smELls gOoD," it said in an abnormally high-pitched voice for something as terrifying as it looked.

Finally, he found control of his body again, and he sprinted away as fast as he could. The beast was chasing him though; he could hear it repeating the same phrase over and over again - _SmeLLs GoOd sMeLLs gOOD smELLs GOod_.

He'd be safe at the temple. He just had to get to the temple. Was it left, or right? Maybe straight ahead? It was impossible to think with the beast hot on his trail. Nothing looked familiar, the streets were getting more and more narrow, and saw less and less people, none of whom seemed to notice his plight.

He was rounding a corner - what might possibly have been his last - when he saw Doumeki running towards him.

Doumeki held a drawn bow, but no arrows. He stopped and aimed right at Watanuki. What was he planning to do?

"Duck," was all he said.

Watanuki considered objecting, but in the moment he paused to take a breath, the scent and feel of the ayakashi loomed up behind him. It was closer than he thought, and a sharp pain gripped his left arm. Suppressing a yell of panic, he followed Doumeki's order and dropped to the ground.

As he fell, he saw Doumeki pull the bowstring back, and an arrow began to form from white smoke. When he released the string, the arrow flew straight into the beast, which was nearly right on top of Watanuki.

Watanuki threw his arms over his head, as the monster shrieked - a shrill unwelcome sound that Watanuki hoped to never hear again. He felt the presence rear back, and turning, he watched as it writhed, a solid arrow in its forehead - or what could possibly be called its forehead, if you squinted and tilted your head. Its body was cracking around where the arrow had pierced it, and the pieces that broke off were turning into smoke. In a moment, there was nothing left of it.

Watanuki laid on the cold, dark sidewalk, stunned. The pain in his arm was more like a burn now, and felt like it was spreading. He ignored it for now though, instead preferring to call Doumeki out on his poor performance this afternoon.

"WHAT THE _HELL_? WHY DIDN'T YOU SHOW UP SOONER, THAT THING COULD HAVE _KILLED_ ME! COULD HAVE KILLED HIMAWARI-CHAN! WHAT DID YOU EVEN- oh no, the woman…"

Watanuki scrambled to stand back up and ran as fast as he could, hoping to find the spot where he'd left the woman lying in the street. He didn't have to look hard though - he just followed the sound of sirens in the distance.

When he arrived at the scene, there was a small crowd of people gathered around. Watanuki slowed down as he neared them, hoping… hoping she wasn't…

"She's dead," he heard a man yell from the center of the small crowd.

Watanuki fell to his knees, unable to process. He looked down, and saw that her ring had made its way to the sidewalk, right in front of him.

He picked it up, and held it in his hands as it crumbled to dust.

Doumeki and Himawari came up behind him, and Himawari put a hand on his shoulder.

"We should go," she said.

Watanuki moved to stand, but the pain in his arm had definitely spread, and the shock of it caused him to lose his balance and fall right back down.

"Watanuki-kun, are you alright?" asked Himawari.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I just think the thing scratched me is all," he said, waving off something that hurt far too much for a scratch.

"You were scratched by it?"

"Yeah, but I'm sure it'll be fine."

She looked to Doumeki, and the two of them shared a panicked look.

Honestly, it was just a scratch, right? Nothing to get worked up over…

"I'll tell Yuuko-san," Doumeki said, breaking into a run.

"Doumeki-kun, you can't just…" Himawari trailed off when he turned around a corner, then looked back at Watanuki. He'd never really seen her so concerned before.

"We have to get you back to the temple," she said slowly, as if he couldn't understand her or something.

"Sure, okay, I mean, I don't see what all the fuss is about, really, but there's no reason not to - _augh_." His sentence was cut short by the burning pain in his arm.

Himawari positioned herself under Watanuki's right arm - currently his good arm - and supported him as he stood.

"Luckily, we're not too far from the temple. Just help me out here, okay?" She smiled brightly - she really was cute.

"Okay," he slurred.

It was a long and painful walk back to the temple. It was so nice of Himawari to help him like this. She was just so kind and gentle and sweet and cute and why was his vision blacking out?

By the time he made it through the gates, his whole arm, shoulder, and part of his neck felt like it was on fire.

Yuuko stood alone in the courtyard.

"Take him to the back," she said, and Himawari nodded gravely.

Yuuko led the way, and he and Himawari followed, as they went clear around the temple to the back garden. He could tell Himawari was getting tired, but he couldn't help but lean against her.

Why was no one else helping? Why were they taking him to the back? Why was no one there? What was wrong with him?

Yuuko came to a stop near a well and gestured for them to stop. Himawari helped him sit on the ground gently, as his balance was still askew.

"Take off his shirt and leave him here with me," said Yuuko. "You may return inside now."

T-take off his shirt? Why?

Without a word, Himawari undid the buttons of his shirt, and helped him take it off. She looked at Watanuki with concern, but smiled anyways. "You'll be fine, Watanuki-kun. I'll see you in a little while, okay?"

"Okay?" he repeated, unsure.

He watched as she ran back, then risked a look at his arm.

It was black and purple and looked almost like the arm of that woman but... Watanuki hadn't done anything bad, had he?

"Yu-Yuuko-san? What's going on? What happened to me?" he asked, unable to look away from what looked like rotting flesh all along his arm.

She was hefting a large bucket from the well, and looking away when she answered. "You were blighted by an ayakashi."

Blighted? What the hell did that mean?

"Is this what happened to the woman? Am I possessed like she was? Am I- am I going to die? What did I do wrong?" His questioning stopped and his panic increased as he felt a jolt of pain throb through his arm.

"As I said, the ayakashi are malevolent spirits. They can also corrupt. Regalia and gods and other beings of the Far Shore are affected by this. If the infection spreads, yes, you will die."

His breathing quickened and he found he could barely think straight. "What do I do? What do I do, I don't want to die, not again, oh gods not again, please, how do I stop this, Yuuko-san I-"

His pleading was stopped with a splash of water in his face.

"What the hell are you doing?"

He looked up through his glasses, unable to see anything but drops of water and a blurry outline of Yuuko holding something over his head - presumably the bucket she was drawing from the well earlier.

"Cleansing you, Watanuki, now don't fuss."

He closed his eyes as another splash of water fell on his head.

He hissed in pain as the water trailed down his arm, stinging the already irritated wound - or rather, blight?

"Yuuko-san, I don't-"

Another splash of water fell on his head and the rest of his words came out as a sputter.

The stinging began to lessen, and when he looked down, he could see even through his wet glasses that his arm looked a more normal color.

A rag fell on his head, and Yuuko set the bucket, which was only a quarter full by now, next to him.

"Make sure it's all gone before you come back inside. That blight is contagious. It spreads by touch. I don't want it corrupting myself, or anyone else."

With that, she turned and went back inside.

Watanuki dried off his glasses with the towel before wetting it in the bucket. He couldn't help but feel dirty as he rubbed the blight away.

It didn't take too long to finish, but it felt like longer in the dark, with only cicadas chirping and the breeze blowing to fill the silence. He left the bucket and rag on the porch, and entered the temple reluctantly.

Yuuko was right inside with a larger towel and a change of clothes. She handed him the pile, and he took it from her with a bow.

"Watanuki, there is a reason I advised you not to leave this temple," she said, face impassive. "It's unsafe, and you cannot go alone. There are dangers out there."

"Yeah, I got that-"

"Some far worse than that ayakashi you ran into."

Was she… concerned about Watanuki?

"Losing a regalia is no small thing. I can't allow that to happen."

No, of course not. This was all about usefulness. He should have known.

"But you'll allow human beings to die."

Yuuko frowned. "That woman wouldn't change her actions, and she paid the price."

"Which was her life?"

A pause. "Yes."

"How is that fair?" he asked, verging on a yell.

"Ayakashi are greedy creatures, Watanuki. They don't care what is or isn't fair. She invited it in, and it took her with it. Should her price have been her life? Likely not. But do the ayakashi care what balance is?"

Watanuki didn't suppose so.

"They don't," continued Yuuko. "That is why they're so twisted. They don't heed the balance and equivalence of the universe, and it twists them further."

Yuuko really had a thing for balance, didn't she?

"Why didn't you help her?" he asked softly, after a moment's hesitation.

"That woman wouldn't help herself. Why would I fix something that will only be broken again?"

Yuuko had a point. A warped and cynical one, but a point nonetheless.

"Go to bed, Watanuki."

He nodded, and slowly made his way down the hall.

Doumeki's door was open, and he saw him in there with Himawari. They abruptly stopped their conversation and turned to him. Himawari wore a cheerful smile, but Doumeki looked as impassive as ever.

"Watanuki-kun, it's good to see you're alright. I was just leaving, but I'm glad I saw you first."

Ahhh, she was glad to see him? Despite his day, he felt like he could float the rest of the way to his room.

"I'll leave you and Doumeki-kun to talk then."

"Nooo, nononono _no_ \- it's alright! You can stay, Himawari-chan! I'm feeling much better now, we can talk and I can make you a dessert - I'm sorry I worried you!"

Doumeki said nothing.

Himawari giggled and stood up. "I need to get home anyways. My parents might be concerned if I stay out _too_ late."

Watanuki's face fell.

"But I'll be back to see you tomorrow after school!"

"Ahhhh~! I would love to see you then - I'll make you something special when you come by! Anything you want, Himawari-chan!"

She smiled. "I'm sure anything you make would be delicious."

It felt like Watanuki was flying through the air, and he nearly fell over with the force of her compliment.

Doumeki stood up then, and led her out of the room. She said something to him that Watanuki couldn't hear, but he shook his head at her. Gods, he didn't appreciate Himawari for what she was: perfect.

Watanuki waved as she left, lovestruck, then turned to back to Doumeki's room just in time to see the door close.


	3. Five Fingers

The xxxHolic side will update for a few chapters, while the Tsubasa one goes on a tiny hiatus, to catch up to the timeline.

This chapter was written in full by names are hard guys, and edited by me.

This gets dark a bit.

* * *

Weeks passed without incident. Most of the "customers" were people looking for love charms or wanting to do well on tests - mundane things like that. It was boring, but far less deadly than ayakashi possession, so Watanuki wouldn't complain.

But what he _could_ complain about was the storeroom.

"Yuuko-san, I thought I said we were cleaning this out last month!" he yelled through the halls of the temple.

"If you want to clean it, be my guest!" was the reply.

It really wasn't surprising.

And that was how he ended up in the front courtyard surrounded by gods know how many random, unnecessary trinkets of varying size, shape, age, and cleanliness.

He left the yard under the supervision of Maru and Moro (Doumeki was at school and Mokona and Yuuko were probably having a mid-morning drinking contest) while he did a deep clean of the room itself. The dust was like a carpet, and when he finished sweeping it all up and mopping underneath, he found that the floor was, in fact, a dark cherry wood.

"Well whaddya know; there's actually a floor under here!" he said to… no one.

But honestly, he wouldn't have guessed upon viewing it earlier that day that the room was actually quite lovely. There were windows he'd never noticed, and the wallpaper was a deep green with a light, barely distinguishable butterfly pattern on it. Who knew Yuuko actually had taste?

At any rate, he scrubbed the floors and cleaned the walls and opened the windows for a breeze and when that was done, he headed outside with his duster and a mission.

When he got there, he saw a man scouring the pile.

"Hey! Hey what are you doing!" yelled Watanuki, running at the possible thief.

The man took a step back and put his hands up, smiling. "Calm down! Didn't see ya there. Just looking around. Yard sale, yeah?"

Watanuki got a weird feeling from the guy, but it was probably the chemical fumes going to his head. He didn't seem to be possessed by ayakashi or anything. Hands were normal and no black smoke or any of that. His hair was slicked back and his smile slightly crooked.

"No. This isn't for sale. My employer is a pack-rat and she-"

"It might be for sale." Yuuko's voice cut in as she exited the house, the picture of provocative serenity, if that was even a possibility.

The man turned to face her, smile now askew. "Ah, then these are your things?"

"Yes."

"It's a yard sale?"

"What item did you have your eye on?" she asked, sauntering down the steps and towards the intruder.

He pointed at a small, decorative silver tube laying on a box next to him. "I want that."

"I don't think you do."

He laughed. "Lady, I think I know what I want. I want that trinket. And I always get what I want." There was an odd glint in his eyes as he said the words - a disconcerting glint. One that said _get out of my way_.

Yuuko stopped a few feet away from the man, and laughed right back at him. "If you take it, then you must pay a price, you know."

Of course.

"Oh, I have money," he assured her. "I wouldn't worry about price. I enjoy a finer life, miss."

She smirked - never a good sign. "I don't want your money. Only a promise."

At that, the man finally looked confused.

"You must never open the container." As she spoke, she picked up the container, and tied a red ribbon through the latch, and around the entire tube. She tied a knot, though when she held it out to the man, Watanuki couldn't see where. "If you do, I cannot assure your safety."

The man took it from her and scoffed. "I'll be plenty safe, but sure, fine, I won't open it."

Why did it feel like the guy was lying?

"See that you don't." Yuuko tilted her head up; a common gesture of hers that showed her superiority over others.

But the guy didn't seem to pick up on that. "And look, honey, if you ever wanna do business again, here's my card." He pulled something out of his suit pocket and handed it to her with a wink.

She took it with a raised brow, and tossed it aside.

The man rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

And with that, he was on his way.

Watanuki scrambled over a few large items to get to Yuuko. "What's going on? What did that guy take that was so horrible?"

"It's only horrible if he uses it incorrectly. Which he probably will."

This felt like the woman all over again.

The woman with the ayakashi.

The woman he'd let die on the street because he couldn't _stop_ her and why couldn't he _do_ anything?

Watanuki picked the man's business card up, and ran off before anyone could stop him. Ayakashi or no, he didn't want to just let anyone else die.

Yuuko didn't stop him as he ran off the temple grounds - or if she did, Watanuki didn't notice. He did run into Himawari though as just a block away. Which was good because, hey, he had no idea about any directions so he would have been wandering around looking for an address that meant nothing to him.

"Oh Himawari-chan!" he sang.

"Watanuki-kun! You seem to be in a rush. Where are you headed?"

He showed her the business card. "I don't know where the address is though."

Himawari hummed and frowned. "Are you sure it's a good idea to be running around the city?"

Watanuki just waved his hand in front of his face. "It's fine, it's fine. I just want to talk to this guy about something, that's all."

"Okay… But let me at least come with you. I can help you find the address - my dad works near that building."

A walk through the city with just the two of them? A dream come true!

"Watanuki-kun? Watanuki-kun, are you okay?"

He was brought back to awareness by the sweet sound of Himawari's voice. "Hm? Yes, yes, I'm fine, I'm fine, let's go~!"

* * *

The walk there was a long one, but Watanuki didn't mind at all - just more time to spend with Himawari. They were really getting to know each other. Himawari's favorite color was yellow, She liked astrology. Her birthday was in November. She started wearing pig tails in elementary school when a classmate complained about her ponytail getting on a desk but she likes it better now anyways. The bird necklace she always wore was from a good friend who moved away. She liked listening to music while she did her homework and she wasn't a very good cook (Watanuki vowed to teach her some time though). He loved hearing about her and her life and her likes and dislikes, but it did make it a little awkward when the questions were turned on him.

He supposed his favorite color was blue, though he did like purple a rather lot. Maybe. He didn't know when his birthday was. He didn't know if he ever did anything to manage the wisps of hair that always seemed to stick up. He didn't know how long he'd been wearing glasses. He didn't have any trinkets from old friends. He didn't know what he did while doing homework - did he ever do homework? He must have gone to school at some point. He loved cooking, yes, but there was no why or how to it - it just was. There was no feeling about it. No reason. No past.

The topic of pasts was getting depressing, so Watanuki was going to ask about dinner, but Himawari stopped him then and pointed to a tall building across the street.

"It's that one," she told him. "But I still don't understand what you're trying to do here."

He told her the story reluctantly, emphasizing that he only wanted to help this man, but Himawari was having none of that.

"I've known Yuuko-san for years now, Watanuki-kun, and I think that if she does something, she- she has a reason. We might not always know what the reason is, and we may never find out… And as frustrating as that is, I put my trust in her. I think we should just go home now."

She looked upset, but Watanuki couldn't just let this man fall into some sort of trap.

"I'm just going to talk to him for a minute, Himawari-chan, and then I can make some food and we can talk more about you," he said, running across the crosswalk. She followed him and they came to a stop outside the building.

"Watanuki-kun, you-"

A man exited the building abruptly and rammed right into Himawari. He had been fiddling with some sort of trinket and must not have seen her - which is ridiculous because Himawari was so pretty that you couldn't just not see her!

"Oh my! I'm so sorry!" she said.

The man frowned at Himawari, and Watanuki recognized him immediately as the man he'd seen only hours earlier - Ikitoshi Ken, if the business card was anything to go off of.

"You should really watch where you're going, honey," he said, gathering up the papers strewn about the ground.

"Like I said, I'm really sorry," Himawari said, doing her best to help with the clean-up.

But Ken paid her no mind. "Dammit where did it go?" he muttered under his breath.

Rolling down the sidewalk was the tube he'd taken from Yuuko's shop. Watanuki ran around the man to stop it and take it back, but Himawari reached and picked it up first.

She held it up to Ken as they both stood up. "Is this what you're looking for?"

"Oh thank gods," he said, taking the tube from her. As he held it up, the ribbon fell off and fluttered away down the street. "Hey…"

Watanuki didn't like the sound of that _hey_.

"Thanks, sweetheart. I've been trying to get that damn string off all morning. You must be my lucky charm, yeah?"

That just sent shivers down Watanuki's spine. And apparently Himawari's too, as she backed away from the man.

"Let's find out what's in here." Ken smiled as he slid the container open, revealing something wrapped in yellowed paper.

Himawari backed away more, and grabbed Watanuki's arm to pull him away. "Let's just go, Watanuki-kun," she said.

"But I need to warn him…"

"There's nothing you can do now. Just let it go." She tugged harder, and Watanuki relented, promising himself he'd be back the next day.

* * *

That afternoon he spent organizing the other items - collected payments, according to Yuuko - and fitting them back in the storehouse. One of three, he found out later, but he decided to ignore the others for the moment because he didn't have time for that much cleaning and why did she keep all this anyways and how many transactions had Yuuko actually _done_ before and-

"Watanuki!"

"Eh?"

"Hey Watanuki!"

The grating voice was coming from on top of his head. Reaching up, he found Mokona perched there.

"Watanuki is so spacy he didn't notice me on top of his head!"

"WELL YOU SHOULDN'T BE ON MY HEAD ANYWAYS!" Watanuki tossed Mokona into the hallway, where he was caught by Maru and Moro.

"Watanuki!" they all said in unison.

"WHAT?"

"Your sauce is burning!"

The three of them laughed as he frantically turned back to his saucepan and did his best to recover it. The dish would be lighter than he wanted, but it would have to do. If only he didn't have so many distractions in the kitchen, maybe he could actually cook.

Speaking of distractions…

"Yuuko-san, if you eat before your dinner, there's no point to having set meals. May as well just eat whatever whenever and not care at all."

"Sounds fine to me!" She sat on the table, eating leftovers out of a tupperware with a pair of chopsticks.

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!"

She pouted. "And what is the point?"

"The _point_ is to not spoil your _dinner_. Now go away!"

She got up from the table and made to leave, but stopped in the doorway.

Which made it easier for Watanuki to ask his question.

"Yuuko-san?"

"Yes?"

"What did you give that man?"

"I didn't give him anything. I allowed him to take what he felt was his. It won't serve him well though. It never does."

"That doesn't answer my question. What was in that tube?"

"It doesn't matter. It will be back here soon enough."

With that infuriatingly vague answer, she left the kitchen and left Watanuki to finish cooking dinner in _peace_.

* * *

The next day, while Doumeki and Himawari were at school and Yuuko was sleeping in, Watanuki snuck away back to the office building. He vaguely recalled where it was, but found it eventually with the help of maps and public transportation.

It was afternoon by the time he got there. He waited on some benches outside the building and kept an eye out for Ken.

After about a half hour of waiting around, he finally spotted him. He had a bag slung over his shoulder, papers held close to his chest, the silver tube in one hand, and a smile on his face.

Watanuki jumped up from the chair and chased the man into the building.

"Wait! Wait! Sir, I need to talk to you!"

Ken stopped in the lobby, looking around for the source of the voice.

Watanuki waved his arms a bit and called again. "Sir!"

"Can I help you, kid? You looking for a parent or something?"

"No, no, we met the other day actually," Watanuki explained.

"Did we? You must have me confused with-"

"No, you're Ken-san, right? You bought that tube there from my… employer."

The man looked down at the tube he carried in his left hand.

"I don't remember you being there."

Oh, of course, people forgot about Watanuki the moment he was gone for too long. Would he have to reintroduce himself to people like this all the time? Apparently this happened to all beings of the Far Shore. Except Yuuko, who must have used some sort of magic or something, who even knew with her anymore.

"I was sorta in the back, you probably didn't notice me, but that's not the point. Which is that whatever you've got there is dangerous and you need to get rid of it as soon as possible."

"I don't think I will, kid. You have no idea what a lucky guy I am for finding this."

"No no no, it's dangerous and you should just return it." Watanuki held out his hand, but Ken pulled the container further away.

"You just want it for yourself, don't you?"

At this, Watanuki was confused. "I don't even know what's in it! I just know that you shouldn't use it, whatever it is, so just give it back."

Ken hopped away, grinning. "The little boy wants the Monkey's Paw for himself! What're you gonna wish for, hm? Good grades? Popularity? A little high school crush?" He laughed, mocking.

"If I had wishes I wouldn't wish for any of those things, I mean, for one thing I don't even - that's not the point - what is a Monkey's Paw?" The thoughts all spilled out at once, as they tended to.

Ken pulled the conversation to a hallway and opened the container to show Watanuki its contents.

Inside was something wrapped in yellowed paper with kanji scribbled all along. The man unwrapped the item so quickly that Watanuki didn't get a chance to read it, but when it was removed, black smoke began to fly from the case and into Ken. It took less than a few seconds before the smoke dissipated, but a foul stench remained.

"What is that?" Watanuki asked, hand covering his nose.

"I told you, Monkey's Paw."

And it certainly was a monkey's paw, albeit shriveled and mummified. "What do you want with a wrinkly old monkey hand?" And why did it feel so ominous?

"Five wishes, friend. One for each finger."

Now that just screamed danger.

"I'm not really sure how much I believe in hokum like this, but… Something tells me this is the genuine article." He smirked at Watanuki. "Wanna test it?"

No, he did _not_. He didn't want to test anything at all! He just wanted to get the damn paw and bring it back to Yuuko's and throw it in the back of the storeroom never to be seen again - maybe that's why it was so messy? Should he really clean the other two rooms, or leave it be because if there's stuff that's as da-

"You know, I really don't want to go back to work today," Ken said, interrupting Watanuki's possible cleaning plans. "Wouldn't it be nice if I didn't have to?"

"I don't thi-"

"Oh great Monkey's Paw!" Ken laughed, holding the container in the air. "I ask of thee to grant me a wish - gotta use the proper lingo here, yeah? - I wish to not have to go back to work today!"

There was an audible snap from the Monkey's Paw and suddenly the fire alarm went off.

Did the man just- did he just- was the building on fire?

Water began spraying them from the ceiling as the sprinklers kicked in, and everyone rushed out of the building.

Ken jumped for joy and ran out of the building, too fast for Watanuki to follow through the growing crowd.

Later, Watanuki listened to the fire marshall telling the building coordinator what happened. Right at the moment Ken made his wish, something shorted out in the fire alarms, causing all the sprinklers to go off. Apparently it was going to cost the company a lot.

* * *

Watanuki snuck out again around the same time the next day. He found the building more quickly, thus had to wait longer, but Ken did show up.

"Ken-san!" he yelled, running up to stand next to the man.

"Hey, kid… How do you know my name?"

Great, this again.

"I was at the temple you got that Monkey's Paw from - I was in the back not talking so you probably didn't see me - and I'm here to warn you not to use it again." He got it all out in one exasperated breath.

"Oh, you were with that lady in the slinky robe? Okay, yeah, I remember her."

Slinky robe? That's one way to describe it, sure, but the connotations in the man's voice were less-than-savory.

"Listen, just last night, I used this thing to win me a lot of money."

He was still using it. He used it yesterday to get out of work and the whole company suffered. He used it last night to get money - who knows where it came from or who got hurt there?

"Yeah, well, make that your last wish. This thing is too dangerous for you."

"I can handle myself. Maybe a stupid kid like you couldn't handle it, but I've got this under control. I'm an adult; I can take care of adult things. Now move along." With that, Ken pushed Watanuki away and entered his office building.

Watanuki waited outside the building for the rest of the day. It was nearly dusk when Ken finally left, running and carrying a briefcase behind him. He looked to be in a rush, and Watanuki didn't stop him to chat again, just took off running behind him.

Luckily, he didn't have to run very far - just to a bus.

He kept near the back of the bus, standing and holding onto the pole (if he sat down, would someone sit on him? he didn't know), making sure to keep a close eye on Ken.

Ken himself kept staring at his watch and opening his briefcase and tapping his foot and sighing. Wherever this guy was headed, he was certainly impatient about it.

Suddenly, Ken jolted off the bus, and Watanuki followed suit.

They were in some sort of industrial district - specifically a construction site. Why there was a bus stop at a construction site, Watanuki didn't know, but here they were, just standing outside of some sort of run down building next to an empty lot full of construction equipment and rubble. It was quite the aesthetic.

Ken walked up to the door and knocked three times. The door opened for him, and Watanuki followed close enough to make it through the door without being noticed. Which was weird.

What he found inside was some sort of seedy gambling den. It was almost embarrassing how stereotypical the place was - poker tables, roulette wheels, men in fancy suits, ladies in red dresses, cigarette smoke in the air, and alcohol everywhere.

The cigarette smoke didn't bother him that much, but it certainly made it difficult to see when mixed with the incredibly poor lighting. Honestly, would it kill them to turn on some lights?

He followed Ken through the crowd, barely getting out of the way of people and squeezing through the tight spaces between people running about from table to table.

After a long few minutes of what felt like aimless wandering, Ken took a seat at a poker table, and threw a bunch of chips down in the center of the ring. Cards were dealt and the game began. Watanuki didn't know how to play poker, so it was hard to follow, but Ken was maybe winning? He didn't know. Everyone was so serious and impassive about it - he bet Doumeki would be good at this game.

Occasionally, people would set their cards down and shake their heads, leaving the table looked disgraced. Watanuki honestly had no idea what was going on, but after what felt like an eternity, only two people were left playing: Ken and some other guy.

They both laid down their cards and everyone around and gasped as they saw… Whatever it was he was supposed to be looking at. Ken stood up abruptly, and Watanuki backed away just in time for him to kick the chair away, cursing.

"Dammit! Dammit you cheated! Just like you do in everything! You bastard!"

The other guy looked up from where he was raking in the poker chips and shrugged. "Maybe I just have better luck than you."

"This isn't just about poker, Yasu!" Ken spat back at him.

The other man - Yasu - stood up then and folded his arms across his chest. "If this is about Noriko, then maybe we should talk outside."

Ken stormed out of the building, and both Yasu and Watanuki followed. Everyone cleared a path and whispered as they walked by. Based on what he could hear, the two of them had a long-standing argument.

When they got outside, Ken turned back to Yasu and punched him square in the face.

Yasu stumbled back, clutching a bloody nose.

"I'm sick of you!" Ken yelled, swinging his fist again, but barely missing as Yasu backed away.

"You're blowing this out of proportion," Yasu said. "Noriko doesn't care about you! She never has."

"Liar! You're controlling her and I know it!" Ken charged after Yasu again, growling.

Yasu didn't get out of the way in time, and the two men fell to the ground. Watanuki stayed as far away as possible, afraid to get involved, but he still didn't wander far - who knew what this man could do with that Monkey's Paw?

The two of them tumbled to the ground.

"She's mine!" yelled Ken, pinning Yasu down. His hands were around Yasu's shoulders, and he shook them as he spoke. "You can't have her!"

Yasu managed to get his legs under Ken, and kicked hard. Ken fell back with a grunt. He stood up, shaky on his feet, but from the ground, Ken kicked his knee out from under him before he good gain any balance. Yasu dropped to the ground again, and Ken crawled over and pushed him against a block of cement.

"She deserves better!" Ken had his hands around Yasu's throat, squeezing hard. "She deserves me! I'll show her!"

Yasu was choking and suffocating, but squirming, and managed to get a rough punch to Ken's jaw. Ken managed to keep hold of Yasu's throat though, and shook him hard. His head hit the cement, and his body went limp. Ken let him go and stood up then, done with this fight.

Was Yasu… dead?

No, apparently not. He looked up at Ken groggily, and opened his mouth to talk, but nothing came out.

Ken walked away, leaving Yasu laying on the ground. "I never want to deal with you again!" he yelled, and Watanuki heard a snap.

Ken must have heard it too, as he was visibly startled. He pulled something out of his pocket - the tube with the Monkey's Paw! - and stared at it in confusion.

"That… That wasn't a wish… What's going on?" He backed away quickly, and ran into a construction beam that was supporting part of the structure. It must have been put together very poorly (what construction company put this together? shoddy workmanship, really), because the beam wobbled and fell.

Slowly, rubble began to fall from the half-completed roof. Ken ran off in horror, But Watanuki stayed for the aftermath.

The rubble fell on top of Yasu. There was a yell from him, then silence. Terrified, Watanuki ran back into the gambling den, as he supposed it could be called.

"There's a man out there! He's hurt! Someone do something!" he yelled at the crowd. Everyone turned to him in a shared confusion.

"How'd you get in here?"

"I just-"

"How old are you?"

"I dunno, maybe sevente-"

"Shouldn't you be at home right now?"

"Maybe, but-"

"Yer a little young for a gamblin' addiction, kid."

"That's not what I'm here for THERE IS A MAN OUTSIDE AND HE MIGHT BE DEAD!"

Most of the people in the club stood up then, and three or four of them ran outside and past Watanuki.

He followed them, and watched as the pulled the rubble away.

"Oh gods, it's Yasu," one of the men said.

A woman gasped. "Is he okay?"

"I can't find a pulse. I- I think he's dead."

Watanuki stepped back.

No. No no no no no Watanuki came here to stop people from dying and getting hurt but he failed. He failed and there was nothing he could do now to stop it.

As he ran off, he heard people speculating whether Ken had something to do with it. The two never got along, and this wasn't their first fight, but was Ken even capable of killing someone?

He was. He already had.

* * *

The only place Watanuki knew he could find Ken was the office building, so he snuck out the next day. There was a feeling of dread and anticipation in the air as he waited outside for Ken to exit.

When Ken finally did come out of the building, Watanuki noticed a rather large bruise across his face, and a panicked look in his eyes.

"Ken-san! Wait!" Watanuki yelled, running after him.

The man darted in the opposite direction at the sound of his name, but Watanuki was faster, and able to get around him to cut him off.

"Ken-san!"

Ken jumped back and nearly lost his balance - he was clearly on edge.

"What do you want?" he asked, voice wavering. "Who are you?"

Oh wonderful. Introductions again. This whole constant introductions thing was going to get old fast.

"I'm the ghost of Christmas past," Watanuki deadpanned. "Would you just listen to me?"

He could tell Ken was about to protest, but Watanuki didn't let him.

"Yasu is dead."

"What? He's-" Ken stopped himself and looked away. "I- I don't know what you're talking about."

"It's _your_ fault. You and that Monkey's Paw."

Suddenly, Ken grabbed Watanuki's shoulder, hard, and dragged him into a shadowed alleyway not far from the office building. He pushed Watanuki ahead of him, and Watanuki staggered over the uneven pavement.

"I didn't kill anyone. I don't know what you heard or who told you what, but I'm innocent." Ken grabbed Watanuki by the collar and shook him hard. " _Innocent_."

"Let me go." Watanuki was admittedly scared now. Ken had already killed one man in a fight, what was stopping him from doing it again? Could he even die again?

Ken shook harder. "Tell me how you know!"

"Just let me go and get rid of that Monkey's Paw - we can get this worked out-"

"No!" Ken yelled and pushed Watanuki back. Watanuki caught his footing just barely, and looked up in time to see Ken charging him.

But he never reached Watanuki. A shape suddenly blocked his view of Ken. Watanuki stepped back as Ken made impact with the shape - the man - in front of him.

Someone had run into the alley and took the blow for him.

Ken pushed the newcomer aside and held him against the brick wall of the alleyway. Watanuki could now see the man's face.

It was… Doumeki.

What the hell was _Doumeki_ doing here? Wasn't he supposed to be at school or something? And since when does he care to do anything?

It was a conversation he would definitely be having later (if you can call talking at Doumeki a conversation), but now wasn't the time.

Ken looked Doumeki over with confusion - presumably due to the school uniform and sudden appearance of the man - the _boy_.

Doumeki didn't stay pinned for long though - he was stronger than Ken. He pushed Ken away, and as Ken charged again, punched him hard in the jaw - right where the bruise was.

Doumeki stepped back, lightly shaking his hand as if flicking water off it

Ken fell to the ground, clutching the left side of his face and gasping. "This isn't what I wanted! This isn't what I wanted at all!"

Police sirens rang in the distance. Ken pushed himself up in alarm, swaying on his unsteady feet.

"They're coming. I know it, they're coming for me." He turned back to Doumeki. "I need to get out of here - just, just leave me alone!"

There was a snap from his pocket, and Doumeki fell to his knees and clutched his right arm.

Ken shook his head and ran. Watanuki looked from Ken, to Doumeki, unsure whether to stay or go.

Doumeki seemed to be alright though - breathing and all that - so Watanuki ran after Ken.

"Get away from me!" Ken kept yelling as he ran through the street. Passers-by moved out of their way in alarm, some yelling for them to slow it down and asking where the fire was.

He was gaining on Ken, but not quite enough to stop him.

Ken turned into a building then, only a few blocks from the office building, and ran through the lobby to a stairwell. It was an apartment building, from the looks of it, and Watanuki assumed this must have been where Ken lived.

He went up only one floor before Ken exited the stairwell and ran through a twisted hallway. It was a short run to this apartment, and Watanuki just barely missed him as he slammed the door in his face.

Watanuki tried opening the door, but Ken was pushing hard against it.

"Go away! I didn't do anything! Why are you following me?" he yelled through the door.

"Just open the door!" Watanuki yelled back.

"No! I just want to leave!" Ken screamed. "I want to disappear! Let me disappear!"

There was a snap heard through the door, followed by the sound of choking from Ken's apartment.

"Ken-san?" Watanuki asked.

No reply, just gagging and retching.

"K-Ken-san?" Watanuki repeated, more hesitantly.

Suddenly, the sounds stopped, and there was a clatter, as if something fell on the floor. The pressure on the door disappeared, and Watanuki threw it open.

Inside, he found the tube, which was sucking in black smoke. It slowly closed itself as he watched.

There was no sign of Ken in the room.

"Ken-san?" he asked, slowly walking into the apartment. "Ken-san?"

No answer.

Ken was nowhere to be found. He'd gotten his final wish.

Behind him, Watanuki heard footsteps. He startled at the sound, almost expecting Ken, but it was just Doumeki.

He had apparently taken it upon himself to follow Watanuki, as much use as that was.

"Why are you following me? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at school I had this perfectly under control and since when do you care what ha- oh my gods you're bleeding."

And Doumeki was. Blood was seeping through his sleeve and down his hand, pooling on the gold watch he usually wore.

"Yeah. Let's go."

Didn't this guy react to anything? He was _bleeding_ for gods' sake!

Before Watanuki could lecture him on it though, Doumeki picked up the tube from the ground and wrapped a red ribbon around it. He stuck it in his pocket and left.

* * *

Back at the temple, Watanuki sat on a couch and watched as Maru and Moro patched Doumeki up. The cuts and gashes were superficial at best, and honestly, Doumeki was obviously being dramatic about the whole affair, letting them wrap up his whole arm like that.

"Watanuki." Apparently Yuuko had been standing next to him without him noticing.

"What."

"You should be grateful to Doumeki."

"Why should I be grateful to _that_ jerk? _He's_ the one who decided to follow me! And why was he following me anyways - it's creepy! He was just _there_ and in my space and the only reason he got hurt was because _he_ came to me! I didn't do _anything_ to him!"

Yuuko frowned. "He saved your life today," she insisted, despite that being _totally_ false.

"That is not true! And no one asked him to do anything anyways!"

"Doumeki did what he felt was best. Which was to help you. You owe him."

"I DO NOT!"

"The universe demands balance, Watanuki! You owe him."

Watanuki looked back at Doumeki, who was all bandaged up by now and flexing his fingers (obviously it wasn't _that_ bad). He- he- he didn't want to owe this guy _anything!_

"You'll be making him lunch from now on, Watanuki. Until your debt is paid off."

"YOU'RE GONNA FORCE ME TO MAKE A BENTO FOR THIS GUY EVERY DAY?"

Doumeki looked up at him then. "You'll knock something over if you keep flailing like that," he said, then left the room abruptly.

"See that? See that? He's awful! Weeks of not talking to me at all and suddenly he decides to just be there and do things and now you're going to _force_ me to do favors for him I ju-"

"Watanuki, you really _will_ knock something over if you continue like that."

He regained composure, but seethed at her.

There was a brief silence before Yuuko spoke again. "Why did you chase after that man, Watanuki?"

"I…" Watanuki paused. "I didn't want anyone else to die."

"What made you so sure he would die?"

Watanuki wasn't quite sure. "It felt similar to that woman. The woman with the ayakashi in her. And you said it would be horrible if he used it wrong!"

"I did. But you could have let it be. The Monkey's Paw would have found its way back when the man was through."

That wasn't really an option Watanuki considered. He deflected the thought. "What happened to him?"

"He got his wish."

That wasn't untrue. "But it wasn't his fault. It was the Mo-"

"That man wanted bad things to happen and they did, it's a simple as that. The Monkey's Paw translates a person's desires into reality, then takes the payment. It's not a magic wishing machine that doles out free wishes. If you want that, go talk to a genie."

"Wait - genies are real?"

"Of course not. And neither are wishes without a price."

It wasn't making any sense to him. Not now.

"Now go to bed," she told him, effectively changing the subject. "You'll need to be up early tomorrow if you're making Doumeki's lunch before he leaves for school!"


	4. Interlude on the Seashore

A vacation, especially with Himawari, is just what Watanuki needed~ If only that jerk Doumeki didn't have to come along!

Written in full by the ever lovely and talented names are hard guys! Edited by Arisprite.

* * *

It was summer by now. Watanuki had been around Yuuko's for about two months, and everything was grating on his nerves.

Especially Doumeki.

Doumeki, who had become an even more major nuisance to his life. Who apparently showed up around every corner. Who took it upon himself to chew loudly in the kitchen every time Watanuki was cooking.

But Watanuki was allowed to leave the temple grounds more often now, so long as Doumeki was there. It was infuriating, but it was nice to do his own shopping.

Kind of.

"Oi." A deep and rather unwelcome voice behind him pulled him back to the present.

"What do you want? I am shopping!"

"Are you going to stare at that bottle of soy sauce all day, or do you need me to buy it?" The stupid, blank look on Doumeki's stupid, freckled face was even more stupid and blank than usual. This guy was truly the bane of his existence.

"Yeah, yeah, just rub it in my face, you jerk. Whatever, just buy the soy sauce. And everything else. Don't look at me like that - I'm doing it for your dinner!"

He shoved his basket in Doumeki's general direction, and the guy took it without so much as blinking.

"Just wait for me outside the store. It freaks people out when they bump into someone who wasn't there a second ago."

Rage. Swelling rage. Doumeki just commented on these sort of things so casually! With him it was like, oh the sky is blue this grass is green and also no one pays attention to you because you're a ghost, what else is new?

"That's quite the dance you have going there," said Doumeki suddenly, drawing attention to the flailing Watanuki had apparently been doing.

"Just buy the damn food and quit being so high and mighty about it all." As Doumeki shrugged and walked away he added, "And don't forget to use that coupon I gave you!"

He waited outside the store, tapping his foot with impatience and general built-up frustrations.

Why him? Why her? Why did he have to be dead and basically a servant to the most obnoxious and gluttonous god around? Gods didn't even need to eat, so why did he have to do all this? But then, regalia didn't really need to eat either, but it's not like he was going to quit that anytime soon. Whatever.

Why couldn't he have been a regalia to, to someone else? Anyone else! Someone who wouldn't work him to the bone. Someone with a less depressing occupation. Someone nicer.

Then again, it was Yuuko who happened to be there in the garden that night in the rain… He hated to say it, but it did seem like hitsuzen.

Or just bad luck, he thought as he saw that all too familiar face to his left.

"Oi."

"Yeah, yeah, I see you, let's go." Watanuki grabbed a few bags from Doumeki's hands and stomped his way through the streets, avoiding collisions with the busy people he could never know.

"Ah, Watanuki, you're back!" Yuuko's smooth voice called from her couch which was just barely out of view from the door. "It took you long enough."

"Well if someone didn't want barbequed beef tongue tomorrow, then maybe I wouldn't have taken so long! You know the closest store that sells fresh yuzu is clear across town? And we had to walk!"

"Watanuki's back!"

"Watanuki's back!"

Maru and Moro ran to the door and took his bags back to the kitchen along with Doumeki.

"Thanks."

He rounded the corner of the entry to find Yuuko, sprawled out as usual, pipe in her mouth and who-knows-what smoking out of it.

"Honestly, I don't see how you can lounge around all day like that," he said, not even trying to mask his disdain. By now, Yuuko had to be perfectly aware of how Watanuki felt about the whole situation he was in.

Yuuko frowned. "It's hot. It's June."

"We're indoors," he countered.

"It's still hot in here."

"Says the woman who requested oden for dinner, which is completely out of season and I am not making," he mumbled to himself, turning around to head to the kitchen.

Doumeki was there when he arrived. Ugh.

"What do you want?" Watanuki asked pointedly.

"Leftovers." He held up a bowl full of food from last night's dinner.

"Leftovers? What if I wanted them? I'm the one that made it! You're always mooching off me! You know, considering you're a priestmaybe you should learn - hey get your finger out of your ear and listen to me, you big lug!"

By the time Watanuki finished his tirade, Doumeki was already out of the room.

He frowned in the direction of the door for a moment or two before continuing about his business.

Which was apparently washing dishes. All Watanuki did around here was work. He said he'd be an assistant, not a slave.

The only bright spot in his life right now was Himawari. She was so nice and cute and thoughtful and the only person who made this (after)life bearable.

He thought of her, with her long, curled pigtails and hair-ribbons and laugh and the way she said his name and-

"Oh Watanuki!" called Yuuko from the doorway.

"What do you want, I am busy!" he yelled back at her.

"I was just thinking-" uh-oh "-that, since both Doumeki and Himawari have a long weekend off from school, we should take a quick vacation."  
A- a vacation? A trip away from this miserable place? Time to relax?  
With Himawari?

"Are you allowed to leave the temple?" he asked, wondering if this was some sort of trap.

"Of course I'm allowed to leave the temple," she spat back with a pointed glare. "I'm a god, I go wherever I please."

"Yeah, like the bedroom and the kitchen and the sitting room and the porch - the amount of traveling you do is astounding," he muttered to himself.

"Quiet, you!"

Watanuki just scoffed and turned around to continue with the dishes.

"Fine, I'll take that as your agreement! We'll leave tomorrow - make sure you have snacks ready and bring enough food for a few days!"

The next day, Watanuki, Himawari, Yuuko, Mokona, and Doumeki took the train to the beach. Maru and Moro decided to look after the temple for them, promising to keep an eye on the umeboshi Watanuki was pickling.

"The wonderful thing about trains, Watanuki, is that we only have to pay for two tickets!"

Doumeki and Himawari were human, they could be seen immediately and no one overlooked them the way they did gods and regalia, so, yes, they both needed a ticket.

Yuuko herself loved to be remembered and noticed, yes, but she did still have the ability to blend in as gods and regalia normally did. Actually, her being noticed was more of the ability. But, when it was convenient, she did allow herself to go unnoticed. And this was one of those convenient moments. Less money to spend on the train, of course.

Which made no sense since they had a car but whatever.

The train ride was a few hours of a kid kicking the back of his seat and Doumeki sitting next to him in silence. Himawari was in another row with Yuuko, so he didn't even have that.

"Why am I stuck here with you?" he asked Doumeki, but at the same time didn't really ask him. It was more rhetorical - probably Doumeki's type of question anyways since that meant he didn't need to respond. "Himawari-chan is just a few rows over and I could have been sitting with her but nooooo I have to be sitting next to you and I don't even get the window seat and there's some kid kicking me - this trip is already a disaster why couldn't it just be Himawari-chaaan!?"

"Did you wanna switch?"

Doumeki's response somewhat shocked Watanuki. "Eh?"

"Seats."

Was this guy seriously offering to switch seats? Who did he think he was?

"Do you really think I'd want to switch seats with you? No, no, you keep your damn window seat, I don't need it." Watanuki folded his arms across his chest  
and turned his nose up.

Doumeki just shrugged and watched the landscape go by.

As the time passed, the city gave way to green rolling hills, and hills gave way to large yellow fields and soon enough, Watanuki could see the coastline.  
He'd never seen the ocean before. Well, okay, maybe he had, but he didn't remember or anything. It was brand new to him.

"Oh wow," he commented, staring out the window as best he could with Doumeki's fat head in the way.

Doumeki looked out the window too, but didn't comment. Obviously, he didn't appreciate nature.

It was a short walk from the train station to the temple of Yuuko near the beach there. It was an older temple, not nearly as well-kempt as the one she lived  
at, but there was a working kitchen, so Watanuki didn't complain.

Only one priest was there, and he remained unobtrusive. He was a distant cousin of Doumeki's, and Watanuki supposed silence was a family trait.  
Watanuki hauled all the luggage upstairs with the aid of Doumeki - not that he needed help or anything, the guy just did things whether or not Watanuki wanted it. No sense of decency or respect, that Doumeki.

As he hauled his own suitcase up, he tried to find a fourth room, but there was none.

"Um, excuse me, where's my room?" he asked Yuuko, who was busy tossing her purse onto the her bed.

"Just across from Himawari's, of course."

"But, but, that's Doumeki's room!"

"Yes. You'll be sharing."

"WHAT? THERE'S NO WAY I'M SHARING A ROOM WITH THAT GUY! Not only does he follow me everywhere during the day but now I can't even have my own room? What is he, some sort of watchdog? Well, I don't need a watchdog, thank you very much!"

But there was no other room to sleep in, so he reluctantly tossed his suitcase on the second bed of Doumeki's room.

They didn't have time to really head to the beach that day, what with the train ride and all that, so that night, Watanuki made dinner - chicken salad sandwiches, and cucumber salad - and they all ate on the porch, overlooking the ocean. It was a nice evening, if a bit chilly, and the sunset cast hues of orange and gold along the sand.

"This food is delicious, Watanuki-kun!"

Ahhh Himawari thinks my cooking is great! This is a wonderful day!

"Yeah."

And there goes Doumeki what gives him the right to be here eating my food?

"Excellent as usual!"

Enter Yuuko. She'd better like it, she's the one making me do all this.

"Dessert?"

Doumeki again.

"Listen, you think you can just shove your plate in my face and demand dessert? That's rude and uncultured and-"

"Actually, dessert sounds great!"

"Ahhhhhhh~ well if Himawari-chan wants dessert, then I'll just go get that~!"

Watanuki spun his way back into the kitchen, and fetched the cheesecake he had made earlier.  
When he came back out, the group looked somber as they watched the sun set. He hung back for a moment, wondering what was going on.

"Yes, but there was no dessert that time," was all he caught from Yuuko.  
Obviously it wasn't important.

"Time for cheesecake! I hope you like it; it's a new recipe I'm trying out, so I don't quite know how good it'll taste," he explained as he sat the cake down on the table.

Doumeki held out his plate.

"Give me a second to cut the cake, you jerk!" Quick as he could, Watanuki divided the cake into five slices - it was a small cake - and gave each person a piece, putting one aside for the priest of the temple, just in case he came back that night.

Yuuko let out some sort of moan of delight. "Delicious!"

Himawari nodded her agreement, pigtails bobbing as she did so.

Doumeki grunted and chomped the food.

Ugh.

They stayed on the porch late into the night. There were fewer lights out there, and thus far more stars to be seen. Doumeki pointed out a few constellations - probably to show off, how does he even know all that stuff anyways? - and Himawari talked about her knowledge of astrology. Yuuko corrected the two of them if they made any mistakes, and Mokona laughed at Watanuki's lack of knowledge on either subject. It wasn't his fault he couldn't remember much! Take it up with the universe!

They finally went to bed some time after midnight, Yuuko and Mokona to one room, Himawari to another, and Watanuki to a third with Doumeki.

"Goodnight."

"Yeah, whatever, I don't want to be sharing a room with you so how about we just go to bed and don't talk, okay?"

"Okay."

And then he went to bed, that idiot.

The next day, Doumeki was already awake and almost dressed by the time Watanuki pulled himself out of bed and began looking around for his glasses.

"They're on the desk."

"I would have found them myself, you don't have to do everything for me - in fact, you don't have to do anything for me," he slurred, picking up his glasses that were, in fact, on the desk right next to the bed. "Ah."

"Sure. Hand me my watch?"

Watanuki grabbed the gold watch which sat next to his glasses and noticed the crane pattern on it. It was... actually quite beautiful - way nicer than he would have expected from Doumeki. He scoffed before tossing it to Doumeki.

"What's for breakfast?" asked Doumeki then, as if he was entitled to Watanuki's breakfasts.

"I don't know yet. I was going to wait and see what Himawari-chan wants~!"

"Kunogi usually has tamagoyaki."

"And since when do you know that much about her, hm? Don't talk for her!"

"I've known her for a while. She eats tamagoyaki for breakfast."

On that note, Doumeki left the room and hogged the bathroom for far too long.

Watanuki did end up making tamagoyaki, and Doumeki hadn't been lying when he said Himawari liked it. And he hoped she wasn't lying when she said that it was the best she'd ever eaten. Oh she was just so sweet!

"Ahhh thank you, Himawari-chan! I made it especially for you!"

"Oh, that's so kind of you!" She thinks I'm niiiice! "You know, this is Doumeki's favorite breakfast too. It's just so nice of you to make something we both like."

That Doumeki. He tricked him! He twisted this special breakfast for Himawari into some sort of special breakfast for himself!

Watanuki pointed his chopsticks at Doumeki, which was incredibly rude and terrible manners, but gods this guy was terrible. "YOU."

Doumeki raised an eyebrow, but continued chewing.

Mokona bounded jumped into the kitchen then, whacking Watanuki in the face before he could tell Doumeki how awful he'd been and lecture him on manners.

"Watanuki! Watanuki! What's for breakfast?"

Watanuki ripped Mokona off his face and scowled. "Why don't you ask that guy because apparently he makes all the decisions around here." He set Mokona aside and stormed out of the kitchen.

He bumped into Yuuko in the hallway.

"Watanuki, why are you stomping around the temple like this?" she asked him pointedly.

"Doumeki," was all he could say.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "What scenario have you imagined now?"

Watanuki was affronted. "I am not imagining scenarios, Yuuko-san!"

Yuuko rolled her eyes and led him to a room in the far side of the temple. They sat down on the couches and there was silence. Which was uncomfortable.

"Look, I was just going to-"

"Watanuki, Doumeki is important to you."

"Don't tell me what's important to me! I know what's important to me and it is not that guy!"

"The scent of your blood attracts ayakashi. Doumeki is a natural exorcist, and they sense that. He repels them," she explained as if Watanuki hadn't heard this already and was unfamiliar with the concept of logic. "When you're with Doumeki, the spirits don't chase you."

"Well yeah but he's such a jerk! He's rude and obnoxious and he's probably eating my food in the kitchen!"

"You do owe him your life, at least twice over. Likely more, just based on his presence."

"No need to remind me," Watanuki muttered, sneering in disgust.

"Watanuki. There are no chance encounters-"

"I-"

"-and no chance connections," she continued, unconcerned with Watanuki's interruption. "Fate - hitsuzen - brought you two together for a reason."

"Oh?" Watanuki didn't believe that for a second. "And what reason would that be? To torture me?"

Yuuko frowned. "To help you. And for you to help him. You balance each other out, when you allow it."

Watanuki crossed his arms in front of his chest and pouted.

"Either way, you do owe him compensation for saving your life. The universe demands equivalency, and your refusal to provide that is creating a dissymmetry."

"And now you're telling me that somehow this is harming the universe itself?"

"No, it's harming you."

"It is not harming me! I am fine!"

"Just try to get along with him, will you? He puts up with so much from you, the least you can do is be nice!"

"I will not be nice! I'll- I'll keep making him food but that's all."

"Good enough for now," Yuuko said, standing back up. "Now let's go get some breakfast!"

Breakfast was ruined, of course, when he returned to the kitchen to find that Doumeki had, in fact, eaten the food off of Watanuki's plate. But, whatever, he could make a second batch of tamagoyaki, no big deal.

Watanuki packed everyone a lunch soon after breakfast was finished, and they all headed down to the seashore.

Yuuko led the way, dressed in a red swimsuit that showed off way too much cleavage and a wrap-around skirt that also left little to the imagination, considering it was sheer. The most modest item of clothing was her hat - a large straw one that created a shadow that rivaled an umbrella.

Himawari trailed after her. Her swimsuit was tasteful. A blue and white striped one-piece with a ruffled skirt, and a little bow on the front - ahhh she looked so cute!

Watanuki walked behind her. He'd had to borrow a pair of Doumeki's swim trunks, considering he had none of his own, and wore them with some raggedy blue t-shirt, which he also borrowed from Doumeki. One of these days he would have to go out and buy his own clothes.

Mokona stuffed himself in the bag filled with bentos and was singing off-key the whole walk down to the beach. He wore nothing, of course.

Doumeki brought up the rear, wearing just his swim trunks and sandals. Apparently he was too good for a shirt or something, what was that about?

The walk down didn't take long, but it was an uneven path, and considering Watanuki was carrying literally everything but the beachball, it felt like an eternity.

"Set it all down here, Watanuki!" Yuuko proclaimed, stopping very suddenly on the sand.

"Yeah, yeah." Watanuki plopped it all on the ground and dusted his hands off on his shorts.

The beach was beautiful. It was so picturesque, and so oddly free of people, that Watanuki almost thought Yuuko had tricked them and the crowds would come pouring out any minute. But no, there really were no other people. The sea truly was as calm and blue and mysterious as it looked, and the sand as gold and unmarred as it possibly could be. There were impressively large rocks to their left, and a yellow field behind them, with golden stalks that swayed in the cool ocean breeze. Seagulls cried overhead - the only drawback to the beach he could think of - and the smell of salt and seaweed hit him full force.

He took the opportunity to lay back on the sand and just stayed there for a moment. The sand was warm and dry and he could feel it already managing to get stuck in his hair and ears and everywhere.

"Oh wow, they have tidepools!" he heard Himawari shout.

Watanuki sat up immediately and saw Doumeki silently (of course) setting up an umbrella, Yuuko lounging on a towel, Mokona laying next to her, and the top of Himawari's head from behind the rocks.

"There's sea urchins and crabs and anemone and - oh! a starfish!"

"A starfish?" Watanuki called from his spot in the sand.

"Yes! Come look!" she called to him.

"Coming~~!" he called back, immediately scrambling to his feet.

Watanuki abandoned his sandals as he ran, figuring that gripping slippery rocks would be easier with his bare feet.

He and Himawari spent a long while looking at the tidepools together. She was just so adorable when she got excited about things!  
They spent a good few hours looking through the tidepools, and then Watanuki scraped his bare foot on a rock, having tripped over Himawari's discarded shoe so they headed back to where all their things were so Watanuki could clean it off. But it was lunchtime anyways.

Or maybe it was past lunchtime.

"HEY WHO TOLD YOU YOU COULD START EATING ALREADY?"

Truly, Doumeki was the most ungrateful bastard Watanuki had ever met. He just sat there and chomped without saying anything.

"Leave some for Himawari-chan!" Watanuki yelled, hitting Doumeki upside the head.

Doumeki held up one of the sandwiches in front of him to Himawari, who took it and thanked Watanuki properly, because she was polite unlike some people.

They ate in near-silence as Watanuki glared at Doumeki, Doumeki didn't pay attention, and Yuuko, Himawari, and Mokona exchanged odd looks.

And immediately after finishing, Doumeki went straight to the water without even waiting the recommended half-hour before swimming.

"If you want to cramp up in the water and drown, fine by me!" Watanuki yelled after him, as he left. Doumeki didn't turn around or respond or anything.  
Himawari sat with Watanuki, and they made a sandcastle together, away from Mokona, who knocked over the first one, claiming to be Godzilla.

"I think they need a moat," Himawari said of the imaginary castle-dwellers.

Watanuki shook his head. "No, I think a big wall." It would be easier to do - sand would just fill the holes they made too quickly and it would be annoying

"But walls are hard to get out from behind."

"Not really. You just put in a door."

"But what if the door gets stuck?"

"Then it was a poorly constructed door. How is a moat any better?"

Himawari shook her head and chuckled. "I don't know."

Watanuki shrugged. Himawari had such odd interests. "Let's just pretend the castle is peaceful and doesn't need any of those things."

"Or you could do both," came Doumeki's voice from behind Watanuki, causing him to jump about ten feet in the air and nearly ruin the castle.

"Oh my gods, what the hell?" Watanuki yelled at him, catching his balance.

"Yoohoo!" called Yuuko suddenly from across the beach, effectively cutting off what was sure to be a satisfying confrontation.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" Watanuki yelled back, and Yuuko just giggled.

"Beachball! Beachball!" Mokona chanted, jumping up and down.

So they played beachball, boys versus girls with Mokona refereeing.

Watanuki and Doumeki lost, obviously due to Doumeki's lack of skill and generally distracting jerkiness, gah he was really the worst.  
The whole day continued like this. Doumeki ruining everything. His face was irritating, his voice was grating, his presence unwelcome. By the evening, Watanuki was done with him.

"That is not how you roll up a towel, you idiot, give it to me!" Watanuki yelled, pushing Doumeki aside and fixing his mess. "Do you want to bring a bunch of sand into the temple? I didn't think so. Or hey, maybe you did! You leave messes everywhere!"

Doumeki shrugged, and started packing the bag full with the empty bento boxes.

"Don't just ignore me!"

Himawari giggled from behind them, and Mokona and Yuuko joined in the snickering.

"Hand me my sandals," Doumeki demanded when he finished packing the bag.

Watanuki looked down and saw that Doumeki's sandals were right next to him. "You want your sandals?"

"That's what I said."

Watanuki set the towel aside and picked up a sandal, then threw it at Doumeki. "Here, have your sandals!" he yelled, picking up the second one. In a fit of frustration, he pulled on the strap until it came loose. "Have fun," he added before quickly gathering the bags and storming away back to the temple.

Watanuki didn't look back at the group, not wanting to see what they thought of his little tantrum there. It was a little uncalled for, sure but… but Doumeki was just being so awful! Watanuki could hardly be blamed for reacting like that, right?

He sighed, and tried releasing the pent-up anger inside him. He succeeded enough to see that he had been an ass, but not enough to be as sorry for it as he probably should have been. But… he'd have to apologize somehow.

Not verbally, of course. There was no way Watanuki could look at Doumeki's stupid, blank, smug face and not flip out again.

Maybe he'd just fix the sandal and be done with it.

He shooed everyone out of the kitchen as he made an improvised dinner of rice noodles, fish, vegetables, and a few various sauces and spices. There was a possibility that it might not turn out well, but he was in a bad mood and wanted to do some experimenting.

He was sauteing the vegetables when he heard footsteps entering the kitchen. They were light but powerful and could only belong to Yuuko.

"I thought we discussed this earlier, Watanuki," she chided.

Watanuki slumped a little bit, but didn't turn around to face her. He knew what he did, he didn't need a lecture.

"I am not sorry about that." (He was a little bit.)

He heard Yuuko take a seat and scoff. "You owe him an apology." She paused. "Well, you owe him more than that, but an apology would be a good start. If not for your attitude then for the sandal."

"Aughhh I don't want to apologize to him!" He angrily flipped the vegetables around, checking to be sure they were all cooked before setting them aside on another burner.

Yuuko was silent, so Watanuki turned to look at her. She had her head turned up, and her face in a frown. "You two could be friends, you know. You're being contrary for no reason."

"The reason is that I hate him!"

"Why?"

"Well, he's annoying and stupid and obtrusive and rude." He leaned back against the counter, and put his hands on his hips. "Besides, why would I be friends with him when Himawari-chan is so nice!" he added.

Yuuko seemed to consider this.

"Please try with him," she said, before leaving the kitchen.

Watanuki turned back to his cooking in a huff. "I'll consider it," he said.

Once he finished preparing dinner (he wasn't quite satisfied with the result, and would tweak it a little bit if he made it again, but overall it wasn't bad), he went back to the bedrooms to let Yuuko and Doumeki know, and maybe tell Doumeki that he could fix the sandal or something, he wasn't sure yet what he would say.

Watanuki stopped before entering the bedroom though, as he heard muffled talking from inside. Both Doumeki and Yuuko were inside, and Watanuki couldn't help but be curious.

"My grandfather was better at that," he heard Doumeki say.

Doumeki had a grandfather? Since when?

"As I said, your grandfather isn't here." Yuuko spoke sharply, in a way that people generally didn't talk to people with… dead grandfathers? "You're so fixated on this," she continued. "You need to move on."

The conversation felt personal, and suddenly Watanuki felt like an intruder.

He quickly walked away, back to the kitchen, instead deciding to yell for the two of them to come to dinner.

Doumeki had avoided Watanuki the entirety of the evening, deigning to take dinner to the bedroom, and was asleep before Watanuki had the chance to talk to him alone. Watanuki himself spent the evening avoiding Yuuko, knowing that she would only chide him more on his actions that afternoon. He'd already heard it from Himawari, he didn't need to hear it (along with a lecture on fate and inevitability) from Yuuko as well.

He didn't see Doumeki again until he was working on breakfast the next morning. He'd woken up early, to be sure there was a large stack of pancakes ready before Himawari woke up.

But he couldn't stop thinking about what he'd overheard. About Doumeki's grandfather…

Suddenly, there was rustling behind him. He turned to find Doumeki - speak of the devil - with his hands in the chocolate chip bag.

"Hey!" Watanuki pointed the spatula at Doumeki dramatically. "Get your hands out of there - that's rude and unsanitary and what if someone else wants chocolate chips, huh?"

"There's plenty left." Doumeki said, licking his fingers.

"Only because I stopped you!" he yelled.

Doumeki reached into the bag again, and Watanuki slapped his hand with the spatula.

"I said stop that! This is my kitchen-"

"It's not your kitchen, it's Yuuko's"

A valid point. "It's mine when I'm cooking!"

"What are you making?"

"If you must know, I'm making pancakes. I can only hope they're up to your standards," he said, turning back to the stove with a roll of his eyes.

"Put strawberries on them."

"I don't know if we have- hey don't just demand things from me! You should be grateful I'm making these at all, let alone sharing them with you!" He flipped a pancake and turned back to face Doumeki again and continue his lecture.

Doumeki had a finger in his ear - the usual schtick - and was still eating chocolate.

"You listen when I talk, this is…" he trailed off when he saw the watch sticking out of Doumeki's sleeve. The watch that Doumeki always wore. It was old, and beautiful and it just felt important. Watanuki realized then that it must have belonged to Doumeki's grandfather.

Doumeki gave him a look, but Watanuki was thinking about what he'd heard yesterday.

"Listen… I heard you and Yuuko talking a little bit last night…"

Doumeki dropped his finger, and stared at him. Weirdly.

Watanuki returned the "look" but continued anyways.

"I mean, it was just a little, but…" how do you delicately ask someone about their dead grandfather? "Uh, well, I heard… she said…

"What are you talking about?"

Watanuki started and turned back to his pancakes, luckily catching them before they burnt. "Your grandfather," he said as he flipped the pancakes off the stove and onto a plate. He put the plate aside, and turned back to Doumeki, attempting to make eye contact - that's what you do, right? "I'm sorry."

Doumeki had his eyebrows raised, but he couldn't interpret the look on his face - what else is new?

The stare was disconcerting. "What? I'm just… What?"

"Thanks."

Watanuki couldn't help but feel like air had been cleared between them. He went back to his cooking, pouring some batter onto the griddle.

"I just didn't know that-" He nearly missed Doumeki snatching the top of the pancakes that he'd just cooked. "Hey, I was trying to talk to you and here you go, stealing my food again! There's just no having a civil conversation with you! Or even a civil meal, are you eating that with your fingers? Hey, where are you going? Hey-!"

They left soon after breakfast. Doumeki had an archery tournament early the next day and heaven-forbid he miss that.

On the train ride home, fate smiled upon him and he was able to sit next to Himawari! Alone time with Himawari? All he ever wanted and more~!

Of course, Doumeki and Yuuko (along with Mokona) were right behind them, but… really, over the sound of the train, Watanuki couldn't hear them. It was like they weren't even there.

He turned to Himawari, hearts in his eyes, he was sure of it. "Ahhh I had a lovely time at the beach!" he sang.

Himawari nodded her head enthusiastically. "Oh yes! I did too! It was so nice to get away and spend time with you-" ahhh she likes spending time with me!

"-and Yuuko-san and Doumeki-kun too."

"Doumeki…" Watanuki seethed. Even when he isn't here, he's intruding.

Her smile fell into a gentle look of concern. "I heard you two actually talked this morning…"

"Huh?" Talked? No, Doumeki waltzed into the kitchen and… Well, he supposed there had been some sort of moment. "Oh, yeah…"

"I'm really glad you two are getting along better."

"We are not getting along!" Watanuki insisted.

But Himawari didn't listen to Watanuki's protests. "Doumeki-kun has had some hard times lately, and he's been…" She trailed off, looking down and away

"Yeah, I heard his grandfather died."

"Oh, mhm, his grandfather…" She put a hand to the bird pendant on her necklace and sighed softly.

"Was it recent?"

"It was very recent, yes," Himawari agreed, nodding her head. "I don't think Doumeki-kun has really handled it well. But he's getting there."

Watanuki considered this. It did explain his original stand-offish nature. "They must have been close."

"They were very close," she confirmed. "It hit him hard. It… It hit all of us hard. He had become - he was kind of permanent fixture around the temple, you know?" She looked out the window then, her gaze far away.

"Mm."

"It was sudden," she added after a moment.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

She didn't say anything

"That's why he always wears that watch, huh?" he asked, wanting his suspicions confirmed.

"What?" She spun around to face Watanuki again. "Yeah, it was his grandfather's. He's very attached to it."

"I can tell. It's beautiful."

"Oh, it is."

Wait. Wait. Why were they talking about Doumeki when they could be talking about literally anything else besides that? Time to change the subject.

"Yes, about as beautiful as that necklace of yours!"

Himawari gave him a tight smile. "Thank you."

"The friend who got it for you must have known you well, because the bird suits you."

"Yes, uh, she did."

Watanuki was distracted then by the view out the window. He twisted around Himawari to see it better. "Oh wow. I was on the other side of the train last time."

The view was much better on this side.

She looked as well, and sighed. "Yeah. It's so pretty out here in the country. I really did have a lovely time at the beach, Watanuki-kun."

"It was lovely because you were there, Himawari-chan~!"

The conversation was light through the rest of the ride home, and Watanuki spent it just enjoying the presence of Himawari.


End file.
